The United Nations has included Israeli military and security forces on the “blacklist” of parties that committed “grave violations” against children in areas of armed conflict during the year 2023.
A UN report to be published tomorrow, Thursday, stated that “serious violations against children in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories increased by 155% during 2023,” as 7,837 violations were recorded against 4,247 Palestinian children in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
The report indicated that these violations were “committed by the Israeli army and illegal Israeli settlers,” and explained that the Israeli army and security forces were responsible for 5,698 of these violations.
The report stated that Israel arrested 906 Palestinian children, and the Israeli army is obstructing children’s access to humanitarian aid in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
In addition to the Israeli army, the UN blacklist included the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, and the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement. The report stated that there are 23,000 “serious violations that still require confirmation due to the conditions in Gaza in the last quarter of 2023.”
On the other hand, the report included the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, which have been waging a war since April of last year, on the blacklist, and spoke of a “shocking 480%” increase in the number of serious violations against children in the country, and monitored the occurrence of 1,721 serious violations against children. 1,526 children, including 480 killed and 764 injured in 2023.
The report included violations against children around the world during the year 2023, most of which were recorded in Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, and Nigeria.
The report, prepared by Virginia Gamba, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, monitors violations of the rights of children (under the age of 18) in about 20 conflict zones in the world and lists those responsible for these violations, which include killing, maiming, recruiting, kidnapping, or Exposing them to sexual assaults.
“In 2023, violence against children in armed conflict reached significant levels, with a shocking 21% increase in serious violations,” the report said. “The number of killings and maimings rose by a staggering 35%.”