Gaza's Grim Reality: U.N. Confirms 70% of War Dead Are Women and Children

The U.N. Human Rights Office said on Friday nearly 70% of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

The U.N. tally since the start of the war, in which Israel's military is fighting Hamas militants, includes only fatalities it has managed to verify with three sources, and counting continues.

The 8,119 victims verified is a much lower number than the toll of over 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month-old war. But the U.N. breakdown of the victims' age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war.

This finding indicates "a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality," the U.N. rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.

It has said approximately one civilian has been killed for every fighter, a ratio it blames on Hamas, saying the Palestinian militant group uses civilian facilities. Hamas has denied using civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as human shields.

Ajith Sunghay, Head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters at a briefing in Geneva that the fatalities included in the report were verified by three sources such as neighbours, family members, local NGOs, hospital records or U.N. staff on the ground.

"The numbers are, of cou…  Read morerse, massive compared to previous years, so we do need time to catch up and verify", he said, adding that he thought the final U.N. tally was likely to be similar to the Palestinian toll.