Israel has long blamed Hamas for civilian and children deaths, arguing that the militant group uses innocent people as human shields.
U.N. child rights experts on Thursday condemned the “catastrophic consequences” of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, which they said violated international law.
The experts, who make up the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child, issued their findings after a review of Israel’s compliance with international standards for the protection of children, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
During the review, legal experts representing the Israeli government argued that Palestinian armed groups were to blame for civilian deaths in Gaza, including those of children. Israel has long said that Hamas militants embed themselves among civilians, using innocent people as human shields.
But the U.N. committee said those factors were not enough to justify Israel’s conduct.
“They were not, in our view, facing up to the reality that 17,000 children are dead and that there have been repeated attacks on schools and hospitals,” Anne Skelton, chairwoman of the U.N. committee, told journalists in Geneva, noting that “children are always civilians.”
Gazan health authorities have reported that children have made up some 40 percent of the more than 40,000 people killed in the war since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
“The outrageous death of children is almost historically unique. This is an extremely dark place in history,” said Bragi Gudbrandsson, vice chair of the U.N. committee. He added, “I don’t think we can identify any measure that was taken to save children’s lives in this military operation in Gaza.”
Israel, in a statement from its mission to the U.N. in Geneva, said the committee had shown little interest in the rights of Israeli children and deplored its failure to call for the release of two child hostages still being held by Hamas, saying it was evidence of a politically driven agenda. Hamas took some 250 hostages on Oct. 7.
Israel also asserts that the Convention on the Rights of the Child does not apply to its operations in occupied territories or areas of armed conflict, an argument rejected by the committee in line with the position of the U.N. General Assembly and the International Court of Justice.
The committee also expressed alarm over Israel’s arrest and prolonged detention of Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank.
In June, the U.N. secretary general’s annual report on children in armed conflict included Israel as well as Hamas and Palestinian Jihad, another militant group that operates in Gaza, on the list of countries and armed groups that harmed children.
“The only real way to serve children’s rights in this situation is a cease-fire,” Ms. Skelton said.
