Several United Nations agencies are again sounding the alarm on the rapid deterioration of humanitarian conditions in much of Gaza and the civilian toll of more than a year of Israeli military operations.

Nearly 70 per cent of the verified deaths resulting from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza between November 2023 and April 2024 were women and children, according to a new report from the United Nations Human Rights Office.

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.