“The behavior of Israeli forces has caused an unprecedented level of death, injury, starvation and disease,” denounces the report, which also condemns “the illegal and persistent failures” of the Israeli government to facilitate access to humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and repeated mass displacements of the population.
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Israel’s embassy to the UN in Geneva “categorically” rejected the report and its “absurd conclusions”, denouncing the “inherent obsession of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the demonization of Israel”.
Dystopia
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office’s activities in the Palestinian territories, spoke of a “dystopia of destruction and devastation where survivors are injured, displaced and starved.”
The report also denounces Hamas and other armed groups for committing widespread violations that could constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, murder, torture and violence. sexual.
Crimes committed particularly in the context of the attack of October 7, 2023 on Israeli territory, which left 1,206 dead, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
Controversial count
The report mainly addresses the controversial question of the proportion of civilians among the figure of nearly 43,500 people killed in Gaza provided by the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory.
Lacking sufficient access, UN agencies rely on death tolls provided by the Gaza authorities, controlled by Hamas. This provokes strong criticism from Israel, but the UN and many countries consider these reports reliable.
Of around 10,000 verified cases for a total of 34,500 people killed between November 2023 and April 2024, “we have so far found that almost 70 percent were children and women,” Mr Sunghay said, highlighting the methodology OHCHR’s rigorous verification process, which requires at least three separate sources.
“We believe that this is representative of the distribution of the total number of deaths. A proportion similar to that given by the Gaza authorities,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the High Commission, told AFP.
Of the verified deaths, 4,700 were children and 2,461 were women.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict – Women and children accounted for 70% of deaths in Gaza between November 2023 and April 2024
Unprecedented
“This unprecedented level of civilian deaths and injuries is a direct consequence of the failure to respect the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law,” charged the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in a press release. “Tragically, these documented violations continue unabated, more than a year after the start of the war.”
Israel has insisted that its operations in Gaza target Hamas fighters. But the report released Friday emphasizes that the verified deaths largely reflect the demographic makeup of Gaza’s general population, more than that of the fighters.
The Israeli army, for its part, said it was “committed to respecting international legal obligations and operating within the framework of the laws of armed conflict” and assured that it was striving to “minimize harm to non-combatants before attacks , especially women and children.
“Each military action is carried out in accordance with the principles of differentiation and proportionality, and is preceded by a careful assessment of the risk of civilian harm,” she said.
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