GENEVA (Reuters) -A U.N. committee on Thursday accused Israel of “severe” breaches of a global treaty protecting children’s rights, saying its military actions in Gaza had a “catastrophic” impact on them and are among the worst violations in recent history.
Over 41,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military campaign in response to cross-border attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 where 1,200 were killed and 250 taken hostage. Palestinian health authorities said earlier this week that 11,355 of those killed in Gaza are children, based only on fully-documented deaths.
“The outrageous death of children is almost historically unique. This is an extremely dark place in history,” Bragi Gudbrandsson, Vice Chair of the Committee, told reporters.
“I don’t think we have seen before, a violation that is so massive, as we’ve seen in Gaza. These are extremely grave violations that we do not often see,” he said.
Israel’s delegation argued in a series of U.N. hearings earlier this month that the treaty did not apply in Gaza or the West Bank and said that it was committed to respecting international humanitarian law. It says its military campaign in Gaza is aimed at eliminating the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers and that it does not target civilians but that the militants hide among them, which Hamas denies.
The four-member U.N. Committee monitors countries’ compliance with the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child — a widely-adopted treaty that protects under 18s from violence and other abuses.
(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Friederike Heine and Philippa Fletcher)
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