United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has added Israel’s military to a global list of offenders for committing violations against children in 2023, said Israel’s U.N. envoy Gilad Erdan, describing the decision as “shameful.”
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will also be listed, said a diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Erdan said he was officially notified of the decision on Friday. The global list is included in a report on children and armed conflict that Guterres is due to submit to the U.N. Security Council on June 14.
It covers six violations – killing and maiming, sexual violence, abduction, recruitment and use of children, denial of aid access and attacks of schools and hospitals. It was not immediately clear what violations Israel, Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad had been listed for.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the decision “will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the U.N.” Israel has long had contentious relationship with the U.N. that has only worsened during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The U.N. said last month that at least 7,797 children have been killed in Hamas-ruled Gaza during the eight-month-long war, citing data on identified bodies from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, which the U.N. considers reliable. The Gaza government media office says in total some 15,500 children have been killed.
According to Israel’s National Council for the Child, 38 children were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack that sparked the war and 42 of some 250 people taken hostage into Gaza on Oct. 7 were children. All but two children have been released.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres’ chief of staff called Erdan on Friday as “courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed on the annex of the report.” Erdan posted a video on social media of him responding during the phone call.
“I am utterly shocked and disgusted by this shameful decision of the Secretary-General,” said Erdan. “Israel’s army is the most moral army in the world, so this immoral decision will only aid the terrorists and reward Hamas.”
