Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United Nations has added Israel to its blacklist of nations that commit harms against children. It joins Russia, DR Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar. Non-state actors in this category include ISIL, the Taliban, and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have […]
By Paul Rogers, University of Bradford | – (The Conversation) – When the UN security council voted in favour of a resolution backing the latest ceasefire deal for Gaza on June 10, the only member state to abstain was Russia. It did so, it said, because of insufficient assurances that Israel would abide by the […]
( Tomdispatch.com ) – The odds are that the entire continental United States will swelter through a hotter-than-normal summer this year. And no surprise there. It seems as if that’s been the forecast every spring for years now. But this summer promises to eclipse even the summer of 2023, which, in the Northern Hemisphere, was […]
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The United Nations has added Israel to its blacklist of nations that commit harms against children. It joins Russia, DR Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Myanmar. Non-state actors in this category include ISIL, the Taliban, and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad have been added to this category this year as well, especially for their attacks on Israeli children on October 7, 2023.
In 26 conflicts throughout the world, the United Nations counted almost 33,000 grave violations against more than 22,500 children.
Israel and the Palestinian Occupied Territories witnessed an alarming rise in violations against children. As bad as the situation was there, it was even worse in Sudan.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad were responsible for killing 43 Israeli children on Oct. 7, by live fire, or by rockets and other means. Militant Palestinian groups also killed or maimed Israeli children in the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and northern Israel. Some three thousand cases of alleged injuries to Israeli children have yet to be verified.
The report says that for 2023, the UN verified 3,029 Israeli violations against children in Gaza, and over 4,800 in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. About 5,698 of these violations were committed by the Israeli armed and security forces.
Last year, Israel detained 906 Palestinian children, mostly in the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem. Some remained imprisoned without charge at the end of the year. In some instances, the Israelis attempted to turn minors into informants.
Among the most alarming sentences in the report is that “the United Nations received reports of the detention of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, compounded by multiple forms of sexual violence.”
My lord.
The Israeli Security Forces killed thousands of children in the Gaza Strip with explosive weapons: “Some 19,887 Palestinian children were reported killed or maimed and the reports are pending verification.”
The UN was able to verify that another 1,975 children were maimed, including 166 girls, mainly in the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Some 10,787 children in Gaza were reported maimed by Israeli forces, but the verification process is ongoing.
Harms to children included not only bodily harm but also on schools and hospitals serving children, as well as on teachers and physicians. Some 340 such attacks were carried out by Israeli security forces, 45 on schools and 326 on hospitals. Some 106 teachers, physicians or other staff in schools and pediatric clinics and hospitals were harmed by Israeli troops.
The report says, “A total of 3,227 permit applications (1,895 for boys, 1,332 for girls) to Israeli authorities for children to exit the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing point, or from the occupied West Bank, to gain access to specialized medical treatment were denied or not approved in time to reach scheduled hospital appointments.” This number represented about 18% of such applications, so almost a fifth were turned down. Of course, in the last quarter of 2023, children in Gaza with medical conditions needing outside treatment were simply trapped, and many have died of cancer or kidney disease, etc.
The report adds, that in Israel’s war on Gaza, “all critical infrastructure, facilities and services have been attacked, including shelter sites, United Nations installations, schools, hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, grain mills and bakeries.”
As a result of lack of electricity and lack of these destroyed facilities, “Children are at risk of famine, severe malnutrition and preventable death.”
In fact, the UN just reported that 8,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have been diagnosed with malnutrition.
The report is also scathing about the crimes against Israeli children commited by Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s Al-Quds Brigades. But they also harmed Palestinian children and last year they “organized ‘summer camps,’ including for children, exposing them to military content and activities.”
The UN called for all sides to release child hostages and to abide by the laws of war in avoiding harm to innocent children in the prosecution of their war aims.
Rep. Jamie Raskin expressed concern that some firms, "which have a track record of using deceitful tactics to undermine effective climate policy, may have already accepted or facilitated Mr. Trump's explicit corrupt bargain."
"We have never, ever recorded so many people forced away from their homes and communities," one expert said. "It is a damning verdict on the failures of conflict prevention and peacemaking."
Israel's "sustained policy of obstructing the movement of humanitarian assistance into the territory" pushed Human Rights Watch co-founder Aryeh Neier to view the assault on Gaza as a genocide.
"It is time for the Biden administration to admit the obvious, fully cut off the flow of weapons to the Israeli government, demand an immediate cease-fire, and hold Israeli officials to account for their crimes against humanity," said one critic.
By Julia Conley
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Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In the midst of Israel’s brutal total war on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and its apparent failure to attain its basic war goals, the country’s Supreme Court has issued a ruling sure to throw the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Members of the government criticized the court for issuing […]
Greenfield, Mass. (Special to Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden Dear Joe, I would wish you a Happy New Year; but it seems trite and banal, given all the challenges and troubles you and our country face in 2024 – some inherited from previous administrations, others of your own making. Americans are 10 times more […]
Charles Kendal Hirschkind, “Palestine is Burning.” For writings on Israeli assault on Gaza by Charles Hirschkind, see: The Invisible Slaughter of Palestinian Children . Informed Comment. Palestine Forgotten. Informed Comment. “Exterminate the Brutes.” . Mondoweiss. To support BDS, click here.
Jo Becker Advocacy Director, Children’s Rights Division ( Human Rights Watch) – Grim stories of conflict, abuse, and deprivation seem to confront us every day. That’s why at year’s end we like to highlight the progress made for children. Related Video: “Improving children’s health in Yemen” | UNICEF Here are 10 good news stories […]
Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The political fallout from Israel’s response to the invasion, murders and kidnappings of its innocent civilians is impacting the American electorate as never before. Indirectly, US foreign policy in Israel-Palestine has become a threat to our own democracy. Young people, especially of color are turning away from […]
By Shahram Akbarzadeh, Deakin University | – (The Conversation) – Iran has warned Israel of severe consequences from “multiple fronts” if it does not halt its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip. This warning is widely interpreted as a declaration of intent for Iran to enter the conflict via its allies and proxies. The Hezbollah […]
By Kelly Denton-Borhaug ( Tomdispatch.com ) – When humans embrace the dehumanization of others, we release our ugliest, most destructive selves. Dehumanization is a perverse force that propagates violence and justifies the lust for war and its atrocities. On August 6, 1945, Sakue Shimohira was 10 years old when an atomic blast obliterated her home […]
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