United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to add Israel’s military to a global list of offenders for committing violations against children in 2023, according to Israel’s U.N. envoy Gilad Erdan, who labeled the decision as “shameful.” Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will also be listed, as confirmed by a diplomatic source.
The list is part of a report on children and armed conflict that Guterres will submit to the U.N. Security Council on June 14. It is not clear which specific violations each group was listed for. Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that the decision “will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the U.N.” Israel’s contentious relationship with the U.N. has worsened during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The U.N. reported last month that at least 7,797 children have been killed in Hamas-ruled Gaza during the eight-month war, based on data from Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Gaza's government media office claims about 15,500 children have been killed in total. The National Council for the Child in Israel reported 38 children were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, and 42 of the 250 people taken hostage were children, with all but two now released. Israel's ongoing retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, which killed over 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage, has resulted in at least 36,731 deaths in Gaza, according to the health ministry
A spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised the U.N. decision, stating it is “a step in the right direction towards holding Israel accountable for its crimes” and asserted that Israel should have been listed long ago.
