United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has included Israel’s military in a global list of entities that have committed violations against children, his spokesman confirmed on Friday.
Israel was informed of its inclusion in the secretary-general’s annual report on children in armed conflict, which will be presented to the UN Security Council next Friday, according to Stephane Dujarric, the secretary-general’s spokesman.
Alongside the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were also added to the list, as confirmed by a diplomatic source.
Dujarric mentioned that the Israeli UN mission was notified by Guterres’ chief of staff on Friday as a courtesy to newly listed countries. “It is done to give those countries a heads-up and avoid leaks,” he explained.
In response, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan recorded a video call to a UN official and shared part of it on social media, expressing his outrage at the decision and describing the IDF as “the most moral army in the world.”
Erdan criticised the secretary-general, accusing him of rewarding terrorists and incentivising the use of children for terror acts, calling it a “shame.”
Dujarric condemned the publication of the private call as “shocking and unacceptable,” noting it was an unprecedented action in his 24 years with the organisation.
Israel’s addition to the list follows an eight-month war in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of over 15,500 children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The conflict began with a Hamas-led assault on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of around 250 hostages, many of whom remain in captivity.
The UN's blacklist has previously included countries such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.
Palestinian envoy to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said that while the decision won't bring back the tens of thousands of Palestinian children killed by Israel over the decades or restore normalcy to those permanently disabled, it is a significant step towards addressing the double standards and impunity Israel has long enjoyed.
The annual report will be submitted to the Security Council on June 14, with the official publication set for June 18 and a debate scheduled for June 26. The implications of Israel's inclusion will be determined by the Security Council members.
The conflict has led to historically low relations between Israel and the UN, with Israeli diplomats vocally criticising the world body. This tension extends beyond the secretary-general to include agencies such as the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the World Health Organization, UN Women, and the UN’s Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese.
The war has resulted in the deaths of dozens of UN staffers in Gaza, marking the largest loss in the organisation's history. Israel has long accused UNRWA of anti-Israeli incitement, a claim the agency has repeatedly denied.
In 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to dismantle UNRWA, suggesting it be merged with the main UN refugee agency. Since the October 7 attack, Israeli media has intensified scrutiny of UNRWA's role in the conflict.
