Nadine Osman
The UN has confirmed that nearly 70% of Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza were women and children, according to its Human Rights Office. The UN verified 8,119 Palestinian deaths in the first 11 months of the conflict, including 2,036 women and 3,588 children. This figure, released on November 7, is considerably lower than the 43,000 deaths reported by the Health Ministry in Gaza throughout the 13-month war. However, the UN has affirmed the reliability of the Gaza Health Ministry’s statistics. Between October 7, 2023, and September 2, 2024, children accounted for almost half of the fatalities (44%), while women made up 26%.
The highest number of deaths occurred among children aged five to nine, followed by those aged 10 to 14, and then infants up to four years old. The youngest verified victim was a one-day-old boy, and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman. The report also highlighted that in 88% of cases, five or more people were killed in the same attack, indicating the use of weapons with a broad impact. However, some fatalities may have been caused by errant projectiles launched by Palestinian armed groups.
The UN’s findings corroborate Palestinian claims that women and children represent a significant portion of the casualties. The report further accuses Israel of “an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare.” UN human rights chief Volker Türk commented, “This unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”
In response, the Israel Defence Forces stated that it “works to minimise harm to non-combatants prior to attacks, especially women and children.” The IDF continued: “Every military action is carried out in accordance with the principles of distinction and proportionality and is preceded by a careful assessment of the potential for civilian harm. The IDF is committed to adhering to international legal obligations and operating under the laws of armed conflict.”
The Israeli military has previously claimed that for every fighter killed, approximately one civilian dies, attributing this to Hamas’s alleged use of civilians as human shields. The UN report, covering the period from November 1, 2023, to April 30, 2024, concluded that in most cases, the IDF failed to provide substantial evidence to support its allegations of human shield use, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) was unable to independently verify these claims.
On October 2, US health workers estimated Gaza’s death toll at 119,000, about 5.4% of the population. In a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris, 99 volunteers who worked in Gaza said Israel had likely killed over 118,908 Palestinians in less than a year, or 1 in every 20 residents. This estimate, based on research into food insecurity, disease-related deaths, and uncounted fatalities, also highlighted the impact on children, with at least 2,100 infants and toddlers killed since October 7—surpassing total Israeli deaths from both Intifadas and the October 7 attack.
The estimate updates an earlier figure from July when 45 health workers put the toll at over 92,000. Other experts, such as the University of Edinburgh’s Devi Sridhar, have projected up to 335,000 deaths, while The Lancet estimated 186,000 deaths by June 2024—about 7.9% of Gaza’s population.
Photo: Grieving relatives mourn Palestinian children killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza’s Al Zeitoun neighborhood, as their bodies are brought to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on November 23. (Credit: Dawoud Abo Alkas/AA)
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