Link to Article: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/nearly-70-gaza-war-dead-women-children-un-rights-office-says-2024-11-08/
The U.N. Human Rights Office stated on November 8th that nearly 70% of all the verified fatalities in the Gaza war were women and children. This tally contains only war related fatalities that have been confirmed by three sources. The U.N. has confirmed 8,119 victims, while Palestine has reported 43,000. While these numbers are very different, the U.N. verified the Palestinian assertion of women and children representing the majority of those killed in the war. The U.N. stated that this finding indicates “a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality.” Israel’s diplomatic mission to the U.N. said it rejected their report stating, “Once again, OHCHR fails to accurately reflect the realities on the ground, and disregards the extensive role of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in deliberately causing civilian harm in Gaza.” Israel’s military says that they take care in avoiding harming Gaza civilians. Israel blames the civilian casualties on Hamas claiming that Hamas uses civilians and civilian infrastructure as shields/hiding places. Israel stated that for every Hamas killed one civilian dies. Hamas denies Israel’s accusation for the reason that civilian casualties are so high. The youngest victim whose death was verified by U.N. monitors was a one-day-old boy, and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman, the report said. Children aged five-nine represented the single biggest age category. A report showed that in 88% of cases, five or more people were killed in the same attack, pointing to the Israeli military’s use of weapons with an effect across a wide area, although it said some fatalities may have been the result of errant projectiles from Palestinian armed groups.
If I remember correctly, just under a week ago Hamas called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. While it is hard to determine the main source of all the civilian casualties from the war in Gaza, I do feel that Israel is becoming too aggressive. While Israel was very accurate with the pagers that they blew up a few months ago, the report did state that Israel’s military use of weapons with an effect across a wide area may be a large reason for the casualty rate. I find it terrible how almost three quarters of all victims from the Gaza war have been confirmed as women and children. Typically women and children are the group that we try and protect and steer away from the danger, however in this case they have accounted for most of the deaths. I also think that this war needs to come to an end soon. Hamas already stated that they want the war to end immediately, and I feel that there has been enough damage done within this past year. According to the UN, the damages within the middle east could take up to 350 years for Gaza to rebuild if it remains under a blockade. I believe that Hamas will not try another attack on Israel like they previously did, and I believe that Israel has retaliated enough, I do not see Hamas as a current threat anymore and I think that Israel is becoming a little too aggressive. Other Middle Eastern and North African countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia have also began to kick out Hamas terrorists. The United States also wants an immediate end of the war, however I am curious to see how far Israel will take this.
One of the main topics that we have been covering in class is National Interest and Realism. From the approach of National Interest, I can see why Israel is attempting to drag out this war. Israel wants to maintain the Holy City of Jerusalem and Israel also wants to punish Hamas for the October 7th attack and they want to make sure that this will not happen again. Palestine and terrorist groups on the other hand, want to become a recognized State and they also want Jerusalem for themselves. I think that from a realist perspective that Israel will continue to launch attacks on the terrorist groups and that Israel will keep the war going on in Gaza in order to maintain dominance within the Middle East and to ensure National Security.