Most of the verified deaths in the Gaza Strip during the first 10 months of the conflict between Israel and Hamas were among children between the ages of five and nine, according to a report by the UN’s human rights office published on Friday.
The office has so far verified some 10,000 deaths for the period from November 2023 to August 2024, said the head of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the occupied Palestinian Territories, Ajith Sunghay.
However the true death toll is likely to be significantly higher, with thousands of bodies believed to be trapped under the wreckage of buildings.
It is therefore unclear how representative the report’s assessment is.
The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry puts the death toll in the Gaza Strip at more than 40,000. The figure cannot be independently verified.
The UN report said 80% of those killed died in civilian homes and that 70% of them were women and children.
The 10-14 age group had the second-highest number of deaths, followed by the 0-4 age group, according to the report.
The study reiterated that some of the violations it has documented could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The violations could constitute genocide, it said, “if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical,
racial or religious group.”
The report referred to statements by Israeli politicians calling for the destruction of the Gaza Strip and the expulsion of Palestinians.
It said the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the prevention of humanitarian aid deliveries and the destruction of homes and repeated displacement of hundreds of thousands of people have led to countless deaths, injuries and illnesses.
The OHCHR said that only international courts could determine whether such violations have occurred, but that investigations by human rights experts provide the basis for court assessments and rulings.
It also stated that Palestinian extremist group Hamas and other armed militias had committed massive violations of rights during the October 7 attacks on Israel, during which they killed more than 1,200 people and abducted another 250 into the Gaza Strip.
These include the killing of civilians, sexual violence, the destruction of homes and the taking of hostages, which the report said could also constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In response to the report, the Israeli Embassy in Geneva on Friday denounced what it called the OHCHR’s “obsession” with the “demonisation of Israel.”
It also criticized the agency’s alleged “omission of Hamas’s systematic exploitation of civilian infrastructure” during the year-long conflict, and claimed Israel is complying with international law.
