The United Nations is adding Israel to its so-called “black list” of countries that have committed abuses against children in armed conflicts, an Israeli diplomat has confirmed, while thousands of Palestinian children have been killed in the Israeli military’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip. .
In a social media post on Friday, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said he had received official notification of the decision from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
“This is simply outrageous and wrong,” Erdan wrote, alongside a video of him speaking on the phone and condemning the move.
“I responded to the shameful decision and said that our army is the most moral in the world. The only one who is on the blacklist is the Secretary General who encourages and encourages terrorism and is motivated by hatred against Israel.”
Commenting on Erdan’s statements later in the day, Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said a UN official called the Israeli envoy as “a courtesy extended to the countries recently listed in the annex” of the annual “Children in Armed Conflict” report. ”.
“This is done to warn these countries and prevent leaks,” Dujarric told reporters, adding that the report will be presented to the UN Security Council on June 14 and officially published a few days later.
“The video recording of that phone call made by Ambassador Erdan and the partial release of that recording on Twitter is shocking and unacceptable – and, frankly, something I have never seen in my 24 years serving this organization,” said Dujarric.
I received official notification of the Secretary-General’s decision to place the IDF on the “black list” of countries and organizations that harm children. This is simply outrageous and wrong because Hamas has used children for terrorism and uses schools and hospitals… pic.twitter.com/o1civfJFAk
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) June 7, 2024
Palestinian Authority welcomes decision
The annual report on children in armed conflict compiles “a list of parties involved in violations against children,” including murders and maimings, sexual violence, and attacks on schools and hospitals.
Guterres faced criticism from Palestinian rights advocates for not placing Israel on the so-called shame list, which included Russia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Syria and Haiti.
The blacklist is intended to report parties involved in child abuse. But other countries can use it to restrict gun sales to offenders.
Senior Palestinian official Riad Malki welcomed the UN decision on Friday, saying the measure was long overdue.
“Now, faced with the catastrophe in Gaza that the world sees with the naked eye with the genocide that specifically targets children and women, the UN Secretary-General no longer has any excuse for not blacklisting Israel,” Malki said in a statement.
Human rights groups have condemned the terrible impact that Israel’s bombing and siege of Gaza has had on Palestinian children across the enclave.
More than 36,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the beginning of October, including 15,571 children, according to the Gaza government’s media office.
UN experts also said Israel’s restrictions on food, water, medicine and other essential supplies have created a humanitarian crisis, with parts of the coastal territory facing the threat of famine.
Earlier this week, the United Nations children’s rights agency, UNICEF, said that nine in 10 Palestinian children in Gaza lived in “severe child food poverty, surviving on diets that included two or fewer food groups per day – a one of the highest percentages ever recorded”.
By comparison, in 2020, just 13 percent of children in the Gaza Strip lived in severe child food poverty, UNICEF said.
The world health organization also said Last week, more than four in five Palestinian children in Gaza “did not eat for an entire day, at least once in the three days” before a survey on food insecurity.
Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) also reported on the dire consequences that Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza is having on Palestinian children, including thousands of people who have been seriously injured since October.
The collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system has left many patients, including children, unable to get the care they need, the group said.
“Palestinian children who survive Israeli attacks face a lifetime of recovery to heal from physical and psychological trauma,” Ayed Abu Eqtaish, director of DCIP’s accountability program, said in a statement. declaration on Wednesday.
In a statement collected by DCIP, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy named Mohammad described his difficult journey to recovery after being shot in the back by an Israeli quadcopter in March.
He is now paralyzed in the lower part of his body.
“I spend most of my time on a mattress, lying on my back. Also, I suffer from ulcers from sitting for a long time and they still haven’t healed. Medicines for these wounds and painkillers are expensive and my father cannot always afford them,” Mohammad told DCIP.
“I loved playing football, as I was always a goalkeeper,” he said. “I also loved fixing clocks and appliances, but now I can’t do that due to my disability.”
In January, Save the Children said that more than 10 children in Gaza are losing limbs every day.
But Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticized the UN decision on Friday, calling it “shameful”.
“O [Israeli military] it is the most moral army in the world – and no amount of fictional reporting will change that. This step will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the UN,” Katz said in a social media post.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
