A Palestinian child is vaccinated against polio in Jabalia in northern Gaza Strip, on Sept. 10.Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
A U.N. committee on Thursday 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 Oct. 7 where 1,200 were killed and 250 taken hostage, 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, told reporters.
“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.
Israel, which ratified the treaty in 1991, accused the committee of having a “politically-driven agenda,” in a statement sent by its diplomatic mission in Geneva.
It sent a large delegation to a series of U.N. hearings in Geneva in early September where they argued that the treaty did not apply in Gaza or the West Bank and said that it was committed to respecting international humanitarian law.
It says its military campaign in Gaza is aimed at eliminating the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers and that it does not target civilians but that the militants hide among them, which Hamas denies.
The Committee praised Israel for attending but said it “deeply regrets the State party’s repeated denial of its legal obligations”.
The 18-member U.N. Committee monitors countries’ compliance with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child – a widely-adopted treaty that protects them from violence and other abuses.
In its conclusions, 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.
The U.N. body has no means of enforcing its recommendations although countries generally aim to comply.
During the hearings, the U.N. experts also asked many questions about Israeli children, including details about those taken hostage by Hamas to which Israel’s delegation gave extensive responses.
Sabine Tassa, the mother of a 17-year-old boy shot dead in the Oct. 7 attacks, addressed the U.N. hearings and said child survivors were traumatized. “The children of Israel are in an appalling state” she said.