GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP)—The United Nations (UN) on Friday condemned the staggering number of civilians killed in Israel’s war in Gaza; Of the thousands of deaths it managed to verify, nearly 70 percent were women and children.

The United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) has detailed a series of violations of international law since Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel triggered war in the Gaza Strip in a new report criticized by Israel.

Warning that many of them could amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even “genocide”, the organization demanded international efforts to prevent “atrocious crimes” and ensure accountability.

“Civilians in Gaza bore the brunt of the attacks, including the initial ‘total siege’ of Gaza by Israeli forces,” the UN said.

“The actions of Israeli forces have resulted in unprecedented levels of murder, death, injuries, hunger, disease and illness.”

The report cited “the continued unlawful failures of the Israeli government to allow, facilitate and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and repeated mass displacements.”

Israel’s UN mission in Geneva “categorically” rejected the report and condemned “OHCHR’s inherent obsession with demonizing Israel”.

“Gaza is now a landscape full of rubble,” Ajith Sunghay, who heads the UN Human Rights Office’s activities in the Palestinian territories, said via video link from Amman.

“In this dystopia of devastation and destruction, survivors are injured, displaced and starving.”

Friday’s report also found that Hamas and other armed groups committed widespread abuses that amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including hostage-taking, killings, torture and sexual violence.

According to AFP’s calculation based on official Israeli figures, it was stated that these violations were committed especially in connection with the attack that took place on October 7, 2023 and resulted in the death of 1,206 people, most of them civilians.

The report also addressed the controversial issue of the proportion of civilians among the approximately 43,500 people killed in Gaza so far, according to the Palestinian territory’s health ministry.

UN agencies rely on the death toll provided by authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza due to lack of access. This led to harsh criticism from Israel, but the UN has repeatedly said the figures were reliable.

The rights office said it had managed to verify about 10,000 of the more than 34,500 people reported killed in the first six months of the war.

“So far, we have found that nearly 70 percent are children and women,” Sunghay said, emphasizing the stringent verification methodology that requires at least three separate sources.

He said the findings showed “a systematic violation of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”

Of the confirmed deaths, 4,700 were children and 2,461 were women, he said.