U.N. says Palestinian death toll is at its highest since 1967

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The long-running conflict with Israel claimed the lives of more Palestinian civilians in 2014 than any year since 1967, the United Nations said Thursday, in a damning report on the humanitarian situation.

In 2014, Israel and Hamas fought a war in Gaza that killed nearly 2,200 people, while intense violence in occupied east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank killed dozens of Palestinians and several Israelis.

A report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs entitled “Fragmented Lives” called for more restraint on both sides.

“All parties to the conflict… must fulfill their legal obligations to conduct hostilities in accordance with international law to ensure the protection of all civilians and to ensure accountability for acts committed,” it said.

“Palestinian civilians continue to be subject to threats to their life, physical safety and liberty,” with 2014 witnessing the “highest civilian death toll since 1967,” OCHA said.

“In the Gaza Strip, 1.8 million Palestinians endured the worst escalation of hostilities since 1967: over 1,500 Palestinian civilians were killed, more than 11,000 injured and some 100,000 remain displaced.”

More than 550 children were among the dead, it added.

“On the Israeli side, five civilians, including a child, as well as a security guard were killed,” it added, expressing “serious concerns… over the conduct of hostilities of both Israeli forces and Palestinian actors.”

The Palestinians are to sue Israel in the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes as early as next month.

In the West Bank and Jerusalem, 58 Palestinians were killed in 2014, mostly in clashes with Israeli forces, and more than 6,000 wounded.

Meanwhile, OCHA said, “a record number of 1,215 Palestinians were displaced due to home demolitions.”