United Nations: In another diplomatic humiliation for Israel, the United Nations has added the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to the world body’s annual “list of shame” that features the offenders committing deadly violations against children.
The annual list by the UN Secretary General covers the killing of children in conflict and denial of access to aid and targeting of schools and hospitals. It will be included in a report to be presented to the UN Security Council next week, according to BBC.
Israel fumes
Gilad Erdan, the Israeli envoy at UN, was officially notified of the decision that has been made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Friday.
"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", Gilad Erdan said in a social media post.
"This is simply outrageous and wrong because Hamas has been using children for terrorism and uses schools and hospitals as military compounds", he added.
Children death toll in Gaza
The Israeli forces have killed more than 15,000 children since Oct 07, 2023 while also damaging schools, colleges and universities. The data released by the Palestinian Health Ministry also showed the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) killing nearly 100 Palestinian scholars, scientists, academicians and education experts while at the same time setting on fire libraries.
More than 17,000 Gazan children had so far also lost either one or both parents. Around 3,500 Gaza children were, meanwhile, struggling with widespread malnutrition that has been caused by the war, the Health Ministry in Gaza said.
Israeli Envoy at UN slammed
Commenting on Erdan’s remarks later in the day, Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said a UN official had called the Israeli envoy as “a courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed on the annexe” of the annual “Children in Armed Conflict” report.
“It is done to give those countries a heads-up and avoid leaks,” Dujarric told reporters, adding that the report is set to be presented to the UN Security Council on June 14 and then officially published a few days later, according to Al Jazeera.
Dujarric also lambasted the Israeli envoy for recording the phone conversation with the UN officials and leaking part of it on social media.
These scenes that come right now from Gaza show how inhumane the world that is silent on Israeli crimes against children is! pic.twitter.com/MFyHtdjErj
— Emelia 🇸🇪 (@Bernadotte22) June 8, 2024
“Ambassador Erdan’s video recording of that phone call, and the partial release of that recording on Twitter, is shocking and unacceptable – and frankly something I’ve never seen in my 24 years serving this organisation,” Dujarric said.
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