United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in previous reports has not included Israel among the “listed parties that have not put in place measures during the reporting period to improve the protection of children.” Photo by Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA-EFE
June 8 (UPI) — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday informed Israel it will be added to the so-called “list of shame,” due to alleged violations against children during armed conflict.
Israel and Hamas were added to the list for the first time this year, joining Russia, the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
Guterres each year compiles a list of nations and entities that he deems have committed serious violations against children during an armed conflict.
The U.N. Security Council is set to hold a hearing about the report on June 26.
The secretary general’s office called Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan on Friday in advance of the list’s release next week to inform of Israel’s inclusion in the yearly report.
Previous reports have accused Israel of violating children’s rights in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict but until now have not named it in their annex of “listed parties that have not put in place measures during the reporting period to improve the protection of children,” otherwise known as the list of shame.
The draft of the report cited information from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which stated about 8,000 children have been killed in the war since Oct. 7. The ministry lists the total dead at more than 36,000.
The report also accused Israel of using large-scale bombings during its siege of Gaza, which have resulted in high civilian casualties, and noted the government’s failure to punish settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
The list carries no penalties, but the fallout could damage Israel’s already tenuous relationship with the United Nations and the international community.
Israeli officials rebuked their country’s inclusion in the report. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement said,”the U.N. has put itself on the blacklist of history today when it joined the supporters of the Hamas murderers. The IDF is the most moral army in the world and no delusional decision by the U.N. will change that.”
Erdan said he was “utterly shocked and disgusted” by the news from Guterres’ office and that the “shameful decision of the secretary-general will only give Hamas hope.”
Opposition party leader Yair Lapid, who has criticized Netanyahu and claimed he “has lost all ability to stop Israel’s political deterioration,” called Guterres’ action “a serious and baseless political step by the U.N. secretary-general, who has long since lost all moral direction.”