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A UN committee has accused Israel of severe breaches of a global treaty protecting children’s rights, saying its military actions in Gaza had a catastrophic impact on them and are among the worst violations in recent history.
Palestinian health authorities say 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military campaign in response to cross-border attacks by Hamas on October 7 where 1,200 were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Of those killed in Gaza, at least 11,355 are children, Palestinian data shows, and thousands more are injured.
“The outrageous death of children is almost historically unique. This is an extremely dark place in history,” Bragi Gudbrandsson, vice chair of the committee, said.
“I don’t think we have seen before, a violation that is so massive, as we are seeing in Gaza now...These are extremely grave violations that we do not often see,” he said.
The 18-member UN Committee monitors countries’ compliance with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child – a treaty that protects them from violence and other abuses. It called on Israel to provide urgent assistance to thousands of children maimed or injured by the war, provide support for orphans and allow more medical evacuations from Gaza.
Israel, which ratified the treaty in 1991, accused the committee of having a ‘politically-driven agenda’. It sent a delegation to a series of UN hearings in Geneva in September where they argued that the treaty did not apply in Gaza or the West Bank and said it was committed to respecting international humanitarian law.
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