The United Nations has added Israel to the global list of states and armed groups that have committed violations against children.
Israel's inclusion in the list follows eight months of war in Gaza that has killed 36,500 Palestinians, including more than 13,000 children.
The announcement comes a day after Israel bombed a United Nations school in central Gaza that killed more than 40 Palestinians, including several children. A U.S. bomb provided to Israel was part of that attack, according to American Defense Department officials.
Hamas is also named in the report for its killing and kidnapping of children in its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which nearly 1,200 Israelis were killed, according to human rights officials.
Israel is also part of a global report on harm to children and armed conflict that includes killing, maiming, sexual abuse, abduction or recruitment of children, denial of aid access, and targeting of schools and hospitals that is due to be presented to the UN Security Council next Friday.
The Israeli envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said he was "shocked and disgusted" by the "shameful" decision to include Israel on this year's list.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement declaring that the UN has "added itself to the black list of history when it joined those who support the Hamas murderers."
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz warned that the decision would impact his country's already tense relations with the UN.
UN staff have claimed that Israel was excluded from the list of offenders in previous years due to political pressure from Israeli officials, the Guardian reported.
"There have already been a few years in which there have been verified violations by Israel government forces and by Palestinian armed groups, but they have never been listed," revealed Ezequiel Heffes, director of the of the human rights group Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict.
"This is a big deal because this is a framework that is created to protect children from the effects of armed conflict," he added.
Erdan, who said he was informed of the decision by the chief of staff to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, insisted that "Israel's army is the most moral army in the world, so this immoral decision will only aid the terrorists and reward Hamas."
The UN envoy responded to the decision in a video on social media.
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… pic.twitter.com/o1civfJFAk
— Ambassador Gilad Erdan גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) June 7, 2024
