Israel-Hamas war: UN adds Israel to blacklist for harming children in conflict zones
Israel has been left shocked after it was added to a global list of offenders as more than 440 people have been killed while sheltering in UN zones. Warning: Graphic
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The United Nations has added Israel to its annual “blacklist” of countries that have committed abuses against children in armed conflict, spurring an angry response from Israeli leaders.
Israel was told they were being placed on the list of offenders that harm children in the Secretary-General’s annual report of children in armed conflict to be sent to the UNSC next Friday.
Rights groups have welcomed the decision, while Palestine’s UN envoy Riyad Mansour has described adding Israel to the “list of shame” as a “step in the right direction”.
Israel’s inclusion on the list comes after eight months of war in Gaza, in which more than 15,500 children have been killed.
Earlier, Israel’s military said its forces struck a UN-run school near Gaza City, the second such facility hit within two days, with the Palestinian authorities reporting three fatalities, and seven wounded.
UN Secretary-General chief Antonio Guterres described the strike as “another horrific example of the price that civilians are paying”.
On Thursday an Israeli strike hit another UNRWA school, in central Gaza, where a hospital said 37 people had been killed.
UNRWA has been key to aid operations in the besieged Gaza Strip during the eight-month war between Israel and Hamas, and the agency’s facilities throughout the territory have been turned into shelters for displaced civilians.
The Israeli army has repeatedly accused Hamas and other Gaza militants of hiding in schools and hospitals, a claim that hasn’t been confirmed.
Many UNRWA buildings have enough space to host many people, and people in Gaza have taken refuge there thinking UN facilities were relatively safe from bombardment.
But UNRWA spokeswoman Juliette Touma told AFP on Friday that “over 180 UNRWA facilities, among them many shelters for displaced people, have been hit since the war began.” “As a result, more than 440 people have been killed while sheltering under the UN flag,” she said.
UNRWA shares the coordinates of all its buildings in Gaza with all parties to the conflict, including the Israeli army, Touma added.
The war broke out after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,731 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
UNRWA, said hundreds of displaced Palestinians had been sheltering at the school which was “hit without prior warning”.
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‘HAMAS WILL NOT SURRENDER’: TERROR CHIEF’S VOW
The latest horror comes after Hamas’s leader in Gaza told Arab negotiators that he would accept a peace deal only if Israel commits to a permanent ceasefire.
In his first official response to the Biden-backed resolution, Yahya Sinwar signalled that he wouldn’t agree to a compromise in the deal which only calls for a temporary truce, according to The Wall Street Journal reports.
“Hamas will not surrender its guns or sign a proposal that asks for that,” Arab mediators said Sinwar told them, according to the publication.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri also echoed Sinwar’s comments and said that while they welcome “Biden’s ideas,” the deal on the table is too similar to an Israeli proposal that Hamas had previously rejected.
“The [US] document … has no mention of ending the aggression or the withdrawal,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
“The Israeli documents speak of open-ended negotiation with no deadline, and it speaks of a stage during which the occupation regains its hostages and resumes the war.
“We had told the mediators that such a paper wasn’t acceptable to us.”
The US-backed deal calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military’s full withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave in exchange for the return of the remaining Israeli hostages.
DEADLY STRIKE ON UN SCHOOL KILLS AT LEAST 35
The Israeli army carried out a deadly strike on a UN school in central Gaza that the military claim housed a “Hamas compound”. That hasn’t been verified.
Israeli “fighter jets … conducted a precise strike on a Hamas compound embedded inside an UNRWA school in the area of Nuseirat”, the army said in a statement, adding that several terrorists were “eliminated”.
“Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who belonged to the Nukhba Forces and took part in the murderous attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7th were operating in the compound,” it said.
“The terrorists directed terror from the area of the school while exploiting it and using it as a shelter,” the IDF claimed.
Hamas media director Ismail Al-Thawabta rejected Israel’s claim that the UN school was a front for a terror cell.
They said dozens injured in the strike were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
It accused the Israeli army of carrying out a “horrific massacre … that shames humanity”.
A UN official said at least 35 were killed and while the suggestion Hamas used the school is shocking, he could not confirm it.
A Hamas official revised the earlier death toll of 27 to 40 people including women and children as they sheltered in the UN site.
The United States issued a joint statement with other countries calling on Israel and Hamas to make necessary compromises to meet the truce deal.
ANGRY CLASHES, ARRESTS AT MARCH
At least 18 suspects were arrested on suspicion of violent crimes and assault at the annual march to mark Jerusalem Day.
The march left a trail of violence as predominantly right-wing Israeli ultranationalists made their way through Muslim areas of Jerusalem’s Old City, attacking local business owners and journalists, ABC News reports.
Among those arrested were suspects accused of “various incidents of violence in the Old City, possession of a knife and threats towards police officers,” police said.
Tensions were already high for the event, which draws thousands of people and all Palestinian shops were closed by the Israeli police.
ISRAEL’S FIGHTER JETS DEAL
Israel said it signed a $US3 billion ($A4.52bn) deal to buy a third squadron of 25 advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets manufactured by Lockheed Martin, with the delivery to commence in 2028.
“At a time when some of our adversaries aim to undermine our ties with our greatest ally, we only further strengthen our alliance,” Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement announcing the deal.
The defence ministry said the deal would bring to 75 the number of F-35s in Israel’s fleet.
“The delivery of the aircrafts to the IDF (army) will commence in 2028 at a rate of three to five aircrafts per year,” the ministry said in a statement.
Israel is the only Middle East nation with F-35s, the world’s most advanced fighter which is stealth capable and can be used to gather intelligence, strike deep into enemy territory and engage in air duels.
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