CLOSE to 70 per cent of those killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza over a six-month period were women and children, the United Nations said today.

In a new report, the UN Human Rights Office says the Israeli military use of weapons in densely populated areas of the enclave is the main reason for the high death toll.

The UN agency says it has found “unprecedented” levels of violations of international law and warns that “war crimes” may have been committed by the Israeli military.

Israel claims that its forces take steps to minimise the risks to Palestinian civilians, while alleging, without evidence, that resistance fighters use the beleaguered population as human shields.

Israeli authorities have yet to respond to the UN report, which details 8,119 deaths in Gaza from November 2023 to April this year.

Around 44 per cent of victims were children and 26 per cent women, the report says.

The agency said five to nine-year-olds were the most heavily represented age group, while around 80 per cent of the victims were killed in residential buildings.

Israel’s continuation of these attacks “demonstrates an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare selected,” a UN statement said.

UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk said: “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.”

International law is clear on the requirement for warring parties to make a clear distinction between combatants and civilians, he said, adding that it was time for a “reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law.”

The humanitarian crisis continues to worsen in northern Gaza, where aid groups say no food has entered since an Israeli siege began in early October.

Norwegian Refugee Council secretary-general Jan Egeland said he had witnessed “devastation, despair, beyond belief,” during a recent visit to the Palestinian coastal enclave.

“There is hardly a building that is not damaged,” he said. “And large areas looked like Stalingrad after World War II. You cannot fathom how intense this indiscriminate bombing has been on this trapped population.

“It’s evident that it is first and foremost children and women who are paying a price for this senseless war.”

At least 39 Palestinians were killed and 123 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza today.

Israeli attacks also continued in southern Lebanon, with at least 52 deaths reported.