MOSCOW, November 1. The data of the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini that the bulk of those killed in Gaza are women and children raises doubts, said Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi in an interview with RBC.
«I don't think that 70 percent of the dead were women and children. I think those numbers are just wrong. They don't, all these agencies, have accurate data. They get that data from the Hamas Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas. We really need to check all this data,” he asserts.
The Israeli ambassador added that the IDF does not attack civilians, but Hamas uses them as human shields.
Earlier, the Commissioner General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that in just three weeks, almost 3.2 thousand children were killed in the Gaza Strip. He stressed that this exceeds the number of children killed annually in conflict zones around the world since 2019 and this cannot be “collateral damage”.
On October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. After this, the organization's fighters penetrated into the border areas in southern Israel.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within a few days, the Israeli military took control of all populated areas near the border with Gaza and began carrying out air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was stopped.
The number of victims in the Gaza Strip exceeded 8.5 thousand people, over 21 thousand were injured. In Israel, according to local authorities, more than 1.3 thousand people died. The Russian embassy said that as the conflict escalated, 20 Russians were killed, two were taken hostage, and seven were missing. According to various sources, about 150 Israelis may be held captive by Hamas. The movement itself stated that there are about 200-250 prisoners in the Gaza Strip.