UN adds Israel to Blacklist for violations against children in conflict zones

Shafaq News / On Friday, the United Nations added Israel to its blacklist of countries that harm children in conflict zones, placing it alongside groups such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram.

The annual list, known in the media as the "list of shame," identifies parties involved in armed conflicts that commit serious violations against children.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres officially informed Israel of the decision, citing the harm inflicted on children during the Gaza war as the basis for this action.

In response, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on X, " The UN put itself today on history's black list when it adopted the absurd claims of Hamas. The IDF is the most moral military in the world and no "flat earth" decision by the UN secretary-general can change that.."

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen remarked that the decision to add Israel to the global list of perpetrators of violations against children "will affect Israel's relations with the United Nations."

Furthermore, Israel's UN envoy expressed strong disapproval of the impending inclusion of the Israeli army on the United Nations list.

"I received the official notification about the Secretary-General's decision to put the IDF on the "blacklist" of countries and organizations that harm children. This is simply outrageous and wrong because Hamas has been using children for terrorism and uses schools and hospitals as military compounds."

"The Secretary-General should be ashamed of himself!"

The annual "Children and Armed Conflict" report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has not yet been published, and it is expected to be released by the end of June.

Israel's offensive has killed at least 36,731 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, including about 15,000 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Last week, the World Health Organization reported that more than four in five children in Gaza had gone an entire day without eating at least once within 72 hours. The humanitarian crisis has been further underscored by the Hamas government media office, which revealed that at least 32 people, many of them children, have died of malnutrition since the war began.