UN says nearly 70 percent of Gaza deaths are women and children

The United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned the high number of civilian casualties in the ongoing war in Gaza, with a recent report highlighting "unprecedented" levels of international law violations. The report, which has not been named, found that nearly 70% of verified deaths were of women and children, with the youngest victim being a one-day-old boy and the oldest being a 97-year-old woman. The UN's Human Rights Chief, Volker Turk, has described Israel's actions as an "apparent indifference" to civilian life, and blasted the "wanton disregard" for the "rules of war". The UN has confirmed 8,119 fatalities, with 3,588 being children and 2,036 being women, during the first six months of the conflict. The reports emphasize that civilians in Gaza have borne the brunt of the attacks, with the UN stating that international law was violated since Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel sparked the war in the Gaza Strip. Israel has stated that it targets Hamas and takes steps to mitigate risk to civilians, but the UN's findings suggest a starkly different reality.