Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva says it “categorically rejects” a damning UN report on Israel’s conduct during its Gaza offensive and accused the UN of relying on “unverified information”, Al Jazeera reports.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report that found 70 per cent of verified casualties in the Gaza Strip were women and children.

The youngest death was a one-day-old boy and the oldest a 97-year-old woman. The most common age group of children killed in Israeli attacks was between five and nine years old.

“If committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a state or organisational policy, these violations may constitute crimes against humanity,” the UN report said.

“And if committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, they may also constitute genocide.”