GENEVA, Sept 19 (Askume) – A United Nations committee on Thursday accused Israel of serious violations of global treaties protecting children’s rights, saying its military campaign in Gaza has had a devastating impact on children and is one of the worst violations in recent history.
Palestinian health officials said 41,000 people had died in Gaza since Israel launched a military operation in response to Hamas cross-border attacks on October 7. Israeli data said the attack resulted in 1,200 deaths and 250 people taken hostage.
According to Palestinian figures, at least 11,355 children were among the victims in Gaza, and thousands more were injured.
“This brutal death of a child is unique in history. This is an extremely dark moment in history,” commission vice president Brigid Gudbranson told reporters.
“I don’t think we’ve ever seen violations on such a scale as we’re seeing now in Gaza … These are extremely serious violations that we don’t see very often,” he said.
Israel, which ratified the treaty in 1991, accused the committee of pursuing a “politically motivated agenda” in a statement issued by its diplomatic mission in Geneva.
In early September, it sent a large delegation to a UN hearing in Geneva, where it argued that the treaty did not apply to Gaza or the West Bank and said it was committed to respecting international humanitarian law.
It says its military operation in Gaza is aimed at eliminating Hamas’ rulers in the Palestinian territories, targeting not civilians but terrorists hiding within them, which Hamas denies.
The Committee commended Israel’s participation in the Convention but stated that it “deeply regrets the State party’s repeated refusal to comply with its legal obligations”.
The 18-member UN committee monitors countries’ compliance with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, a widely adopted treaty that requires countries to protect children from violence and other abuses.
The report concludes by calling on Israel to immediately provide aid to the thousands of children maimed or injured by the war, provide assistance to orphans, and allow more people to be evacuated from Gaza.
Despite the general willingness of countries to comply, UN agencies have no means of enforcing its recommendations.
During the hearing, UN experts also asked questions about Israeli children, including information about children held hostage by Hamas, to which the Israeli delegation responded in detail.
Sabine Tassa, the mother of a 17-year-old boy killed in the October 7 attack, spoke at the UN hearing and said the surviving child was in shock. “The situation is very bad for Israeli children,” she said.
