Global conflicts killed three times as many children and twice as many women in 2023 than in the previous year, as overall civilian fatalities swelled 72%, the United Nations said Tuesday. Warring parties were increasingly 'pushing beyond boundaries of what is acceptable — and legal,' U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.They are showing 'utter contempt for the other, trampling human rights at their core,' he said.
''Since Israel escalated its operations into Rafah in early May, almost one million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced yet again, while aid delivery and humanitarian access deteriorated further,' he said.Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said Tuesday that Israel's military offensive on the besieged enclave had killed more than 37,372 Palestinians and wounded 85,452 since the war started. The ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties.