UN will describe Israel and Hamas as violating children’s rights in armed conflict

By Michael Weissenstein, The Associated Press on June 7, 2024.

FILE - United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres speak during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, April 18, 2024. U.N. Secretary General AntÃ³nio Guterres called Wednesday, June 5, 2024, for a â€œwindfallâ€ tax on profits of fossil fuel companies to help pay for the fight against global warming, decrying them as the â€œgodfathers of climate chaos.â€ (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) – The U.N. secretary-general will list Israel and Hamas as violating the rights and protection of children in armed conflict in an upcoming annual report to the Security Council.

According to the preface of last year’s report, lists parties engaged in “the killing and maiming of children” and in “attacks on schools, hospitals and protected persons in relation to schools and/or hospitals.”

The head of Secretary-General AntÃ³nio Guterres’ office, Courtenay Rattray, called Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, on Friday to inform him that Israel would be listed on the next report when it is sent to the council within a few weeks, U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also are being listed.

Israel reacted with outrage, sending news organizations a video of Erdan berating Rattray, supposedly on the other end of a phone call.