A United Nations committee on Thursday accused Israel of committing “severe” violations of a global treaty designed to protect children’s rights, citing the military’s actions in Gaza as having a “catastrophic” impact.
According to Reuters, the committee stated that these violations rank among the worst in recent history.
Since Israel launched its military campaign in response to Hamas’ cross-border attacks on October 7, which resulted in 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages, over 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza.
According to Palestinian health authorities, at least 11,355 of the dead are children, based on fully-documented deaths.
Vice Chair of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, Bragi Gudbrandsson,, said, “The outrageous death of children is almost historically unique. This is an extremely dark place in history. I don’t think we have seen before, a violation that is so massive, as we’ve seen in Gaza. These are extremely grave violations that we do not often see.”
Israel’s representatives, during earlier U.N. hearings, argued that the Convention on the Rights of the Child does not apply to Gaza or the West Bank.
They maintained that Israel’s military campaign is aimed at dismantling Hamas, asserting that civilians are not targeted but that militants use them as shields—a claim Hamas denies.
The U.N. committee, comprising four members, monitors the implementation of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, a widely-adopted treaty protecting individuals under 18 from violence and other abuses.
