In Israel-Gaza war, UN says women and children make up at least 56% of the dead
- UN clarifies breakdown of death toll after Israel says world body relies on ‘fake data’
- Palestinian death toll in the war is at least 35,233, according to Gaza’s health authority
Women and children make up at least 56 per cent of the thousands killed in the Gaza war, the UN said, amid controversy over the toll based on numbers from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
The United Nations on Tuesday was clarifying a fresh breakdown of the death toll in Gaza, after Israel condemned the world body for “parroting … Hamas’s propaganda messages”.
“Anyone who relies on fake data from a terrorist organisation in order to promote blood libels against Israel is antisemitic and supports terrorism,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X, formerly Twitter, late Monday.
Due to a lack of access, UN agencies have since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7 relied on death tolls provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.
This has drawn criticism from Israel, but the United Nations says the ministry’s tolls before the war were deemed reliable, and that it will strive to verify the figures “when conditions permit”.
