There have been many articles about about the women and children in Gaza who have died in the Iranian proxies- Israel war, which began when Hamas invaded Israel and slaughtered 1,200 people. The BBC quoted the United Nations which said nearly 70% of the Gazan dead were women and children over the period November 2023 to April 2024 (44% children and 26% women). The report concluded that there was “an apparent indifference to the death of civilians and the impact of the means and methods of warfare,” sharply criticizing Israel’s war effort.

What the report does not discuss is the demographic situation in Gaza, where the vast majority of people are women and children.

Children under 14 years old make up 38.8% of the population according to the CIA World Factbook, and there are slightly more men than women. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, 47% of Gaza is under 18 years old, meaning roughly 8% of the population is between 15 and 18, and half of that figure would be fighting age males.

Taken together, it means that between 26% and 30% of the Gaza population are men of fighting age, and therefore, 70 to 74% would be considered non-combatants, if one were to assume that no women participate in the fighting.

Applying the sub-70% figure cited by the UN over the first six months of the war to the demographic data shows that there were slightly FEWER non-combatants killed than random probability would imagine (44% less than 47% children, and 26% women less than 27% in region).

More recent data published by Al Jazeera as of December 3, 2024, claims that 44,532 Gazans have died in the war of which 17,492 (39.3%) are children. As 47% of Gaza’s population is under 18, the much lower 39% figure would suggest that Israel’s war effort is having fewer bystanders killed as the battles continue. As the 39.3% statistics include the first six months of the war when 44% of the dead were children according to the UN, it would imply that since April 2024, 38.2% of those killed in Gaza were under 18, significantly lower than the 47% of the population.

Beyond the raw statistics are other factors.

Gaza’s military is fighting underground and placed its women and children in the front line of fire. One would therefore assume that a much greater percentage of those killed would be women and children. The fact that the figures are lower than the demographic composition showcases Israel’s effort to minimize harm and target combatants.

Further, the figures do not distinguish between women and children bystanders from family members of terrorists. It is likely that a great number of the women and children were killed alongside terrorist family members.

It is always tragic when young children and bystanders are killed. The fact that the psychopaths and cowards of Hamas dictated such situation is perhaps even more barbarous than their heinous massacre in Israel on October 7.

The statistics of Gaza’s dead as provided by the terrorist group Hamas may show a significant number of women and children but it also shows that Israel is using efforts to minimize casualties among civilians.