UN keeps Israeli army on 'Blacklist' again this year

The 40-page "Children and Armed Conflict" report, which includes 2024 data from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has been released.

In the report, Israel maintained its place on the "blacklist" again this year as a party that commits grave violations against children in armed conflicts, and Israeli forces were characterized as a party that "kills and maims children" and "carries out attacks on schools and/or hospitals."

25 PERCENT INCREASE RECORDED

The 40-page UN report pointed out that 2024 saw the highest number of grave violations against children in conflicts, with 41,370 cases, in the "Children and Armed Conflict" study, which has been prepared for nearly 30 years.

The report stated, "The United Nations verified 41,370 grave violations; 36,221 of these were committed in 2024, and 5,149 were committed previously but verified in 2024."

Emphasizing that this number increased by 25 percent compared to 2024, the report highlighted that 22,495 children were affected by grave violations such as killing, maiming, rape, and recruitment, and that the figures have been rising for 3 consecutive years.

The report noted that among the places where grave violations against children such as "killing, maiming, starvation, and sexual violence" were most severe in 2024, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, primarily the Gaza Strip, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Nigeria, and Haiti, were the prominent countries.

ISRAELI FORCES COMMITTED GRAVE VIOLATIONS

In the UN report, while 8,554 "grave violations" were verified against 2,959 children—15 Israeli and 2,944 Palestinian—in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories last year, it was recorded that 4,856 of these violations occurred in the Gaza Strip, 3,688 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and 10 in Israel.

The report, which attributed 7,188 of these verified violations against children to Israeli forces, 43 to unidentified perpetrators, 42 to Israeli settlers usurping Palestinian lands, 11 to individual Palestinian perpetrators, 7 to Palestinian Authority security forces, 3 to Hezbollah, and 1 to the Iranian Armed Forces, pointed out that a total of 951 Palestinian children were detained by Israeli forces—602 in the West Bank, 259 in East Jerusalem, and 90 in the Gaza Strip—and that the fate and whereabouts of 11 girls among them remain unknown.

The report highlighted that in its military actions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, Israel used 27 Palestinian children as "human shields," and that a total of 1,561 Palestinian children were maimed, with 1,507 by Israeli forces and 54 by settler elements usurping Palestinian lands in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

The report also recorded that Israeli forces denied or obstructed humanitarian aid and access 5,091 times, including 2,828 times in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and 2,263 times in the Gaza Strip.

The report also included the detail that out of 5,321 humanitarian aid attempts planned by the UN in the Gaza Strip, 1,262 were rejected and access was obstructed 1,001 times.

Additionally, the report recalled the information that 280 UN humanitarian aid workers have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7, 2023.

"I AM DEEPLY CONCERNED"

The report also included the assessments of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Guterres stated that he is "deeply concerned by the continuous increase in grave violations against children by Israeli forces, particularly the very high number of children killed and maimed, attacks on schools and hospitals, ambulances, and protected persons related to schools and/or hospitals, and the obstruction of humanitarian access."

Calling on Israel to hold those responsible for these grave violations against children accountable, Guterres reminded the parties of their "obligations to comply with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, to respect the special protections afforded to children, to protect schools and hospitals, to adhere to the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution in attacks, and to refrain from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, including airstrikes."

IT WAS ADDED TO THE BLACKLIST LAST YEAR

In the "Children and Armed Conflict Report" prepared last year, it was stated that there was a "21 percent increase in grave violations against children in conflicts in 2023," and it was emphasized that incidents leading to the death and injury of children increased by 35 percent compared to 2022.

The report, which drew attention to the fact that grave violations against children in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories increased by 155 percent in line with Israel's attacks in Gaza, noted that Israel was added to the "blacklist," also described as the "list of shame," for the first time.