The United Nations (UN) Committee has accused Israel of serious violations of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, judging that Israel’s military actions in Gaza have had disastrous consequences for them.
In addition, this attitude towards children’s rights is counted among the worst violations in recent history.
Hamas authorities in Gaza say more than 41,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since the start of Israel’s military campaign.
Israel claims to have killed more than 17,000 Hamas members.
Hamas claims that at least 11,355 children were killed in Gaza, and that thousands more were wounded.
“The gruesome death of children is historically almost unique. It is an extremely dark place in history,” said committee vice president Bragi Gudbrandsson.
“I don’t think we’ve seen a violation as massive as what we saw in Gaza before. These are extremely serious violations that we don’t see very often,” he added.
Israel, which ratified the agreement in 1991, sent a large delegation to the UN hearing in Geneva on September 3rd-4th.
It claimed that the agreement does not apply to Gaza and the West Bank, and that Israel is committed to respecting international humanitarian law.
Israel claims that the aim of the “military campaign” in Gaza is to eliminate the Hamas rulers and that it does not target civilians, but that “terrorists are among them”, that the tunnels are under residential areas and in hospitals and schools.
The committee commended Israel for attending, but said it deeply regretted the repeated denial of legal obligations.
The 18-member committee oversees compliance with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, which protects children from violence and other abuses.
Israel has been urged to provide emergency aid to thousands of children maimed or wounded in the war, support for orphans and allow more medical evacuations from Gaza.
