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Gaza Is a Children’s Cemetery

Cesar Chelala

Months of war, and the unrelenting attacks by the Israel Defense Forces (IDFs) against the Hamas’ fighters, have resulted in more than 15,000 children’s deaths, tens of thousands of children injured, hundreds of thousands of children displaced, and scores of children in Gaza suffering from post-traumatic-stress disorder. In February 2024, UNICEF reported that one million children in Gaza, or nearly every child in Gaza, was identified as in need of mental health and psychosocial support. How much longer can this situation continue without an effective response from the international community, mainly those governments directly involved in the situation, which pay lip service to children’s urgent needs?

Rafah has become a city of wandering children. Many of them have lost their parents and members of their family. Suddenly orphaned, they seek shelter in tents or in makeshift and unstable housing. Surviving relatives and caregivers are overwhelmed by sustained mental strain which affects their ability to care for their children. Even children and their families who manage to survive are attacked in places where they should be safest – their homes, shelters, schools, hospitals and even places of worship.

In addition to the lack of places of refuge, basic provisions remain scarce. Many water, sanitation and hygiene facilities have been damaged or destroyed and both children and adults don’t have access to safe water, toilets or washing facilities. As a result, they are unable to maintain hygiene levels necessary to prevent diarrheal and respiratory diseases, leading killers of young children in emergencies.

Reported cases of diarrhea in children under 5 have soared, as have cases of scabies, lice, chicken pox, skin rashes and respiratory infections. The few remaining functioning health facilities must focus on responding to emergencies and are unable to adequately treat disease outbreaks. Ahmed al-Farah, the head of pediatrics at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, stated that due to the lack of water during the war, he was witnessing “the most serious epidemic of gastroenteritis” among children that he had ever seen.

Malnutrition among children is also widespread and has reached devastating levels in the Gaza Strip, making children more vulnerable to serious infections, and starvation. Also of concern to aid agencies are the nutrition deficiencies of pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, given their special needs.

UNICEF reports that every day aid agencies face three major challenges to reach those who need it most: safety, logistics and restrictions on commercial goods. Food and supply convoys are coming under fire; trucks carrying food must undergo several inspection procedures in a process that is slow and unpredictable. Communication blackouts hinder coordination efforts to distribute aid. In addition, the infrastructure for storing food has been damaged, and essential supplies aren’t getting in to replenish markets and distribution points.

Children are also suffering from the destruction of schools. In April, aid organizations have reported that all schools in Gaza had been closed for 625,000 students for six months. The Palestinian Ministry of Education reported also that as of April 2, 2024, more than 5,479 students and 261 teachers had been killed in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. According to estimates by the oPt (Occupied Palestinian Territory) Education Cluster, which works in close partnership with the Ministry of Education, 87.7 percent of all school buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, although International Humanitarian Law (IHL) grants schools general protection against attacks. The inability to act on this law has resulted in grave violations against children in conflict. Save the Children found that these attacks against schools leave children with no escape from the reality of war, no stable routine, no opportunity to learn or play, which are essential protective factors children need to mitigate lasting psychological harm. In February 2024, the director of Doctors Without Borders said, “Psychological injuries have led children as young as five to tell us that they would prefer to die.”

No party is totally innocent in the Gaza war. On June 7, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres informed Israel that, for the first time, it is being added to the so-called “List of Shame” of countries that kill and injure children during wars and other armed conflicts. Israel thus joined other countries and militant groups such as Hamas, Afghanistan, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Iraq, Islamic State, Myanmar, Russia, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

Recently, after an UNrwa (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) school at Nuseirat was bombed by Israeli forces leaving 33 dead, including 12 women and children, Sam Rose, the director of planning for the agency declared, “In previous conflicts, single incidents like this would cause shock and outrage and would be remembered forever. Whereas it seems in this conflict it will be this one will be replaced by another in a few days’ time unless it all comes to an end. So, it almost becomes commonplace and mundane that these things are happening. We have normalized horror.” Despite the horrors facing the children of Gaza, it is not too late for the warring factions to protect those children who remain.

(Dr. Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of the 1979 Overseas Press Club of America award for the article “Missing or Disappeared in Argentina: The Desperate Search for Thousands of Abducted Victims.” Courtesy: CounterPunch, an online magazine based in the United States that covers politics in a manner its editors describe as “muckraking with a radical attitude”. It is edited by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank.)

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Israel on UN Blacklist of Countries Harming Children: More Murderous Than ISIS

Robert Inlakesh

On June 7, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres informed Israel’s UN ambassador Gilad Erdan that “Israeli Security Forces” would be named in their annual report which names and shames States/groups that harm children.

This would place Israel on an infamous UN “blacklist” that includes the likes of ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

Responding to a courtesy notification call from the UN’s Secretary-General on June 7, the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, responded by condemning the United Nations and claiming it had sided with Hamas while maintaining the Israeli military was “the most moral army”.

The cartoonish video of the Israeli ambassador was widely shared throughout the international media, while fellow Israeli officials also doubled down on the alleged morality of their forces.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, responded by calling it “shameful” and stating that “the UN has put itself today on the blacklist of history when it joined those who support the Hamas murderers. The IDF is the world’s most moral army, and no absurd UN decision can change that.” Israeli opposition leader and member of the unity war government, Benny Gantz, called the UN’s decision a “historic low” for there to be criticism of Israeli forces.

The “world’s most moral army” is accused by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israel’s own top rights group, B’Tselem, of administering an Apartheid system. This, as it has also committed actions that triggered the International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor to call for arrest warrants against the Israeli PM and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. In addition to this, Israel stands plausibly accused of Genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the sheer volume of human rights reports, expert opinions at the UN and undeniably high child death toll, make it impossible to deny the conduct of this military.

The UN’s Global is included as part of a report on harm to children in armed conflicts that UN Secretary-General Guterres set out to present to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on June 14. It is said to not actually name “Israel” specifically, instead labeling “Israeli Security Forces” as having carried out the crimes, which could help Tel Aviv avoid some legally binding backlash. This is in addition to the fact that the United States consistently shelters the Israeli government at the UNSC.

The first time that the US didn’t veto an Israeli-related Security Council resolution, since the tail end of the Obama administration, was during the middle of Ramadan. The UNSC tabled a draft resolution that called for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza until the end of the Muslim Holy Month, which the US government abstained on. Immediately afterward, however, the US Biden administration gave the Israelis a green light to violate the UNSC resolution, by claiming that to their understanding it was “not binding”; a historic first as it is well understood that all UNSC resolutions are, by their nature, legally binding.

Where there may be immediate consequences, however, is in the UN itself. According to Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, “the Secretary-General’s measure will have consequences for Israel’s relations with the UN”, which he said after asserting that the decision taken was “further evidence of [Guterres’] hostility towards Israel, and his deliberate disregard – and not for the first time – Hamas’ attack of October 7”.

It is very possible that the Israeli government will react by completely barring most UN officials from entering the territory they control and using their connections with the US government to punish UN-related bodies further, both moves they have already taken during the course of this war.

While nations like the United Kingdom and United States are unlikely to even bat an eye at the UN placing Israel on its “blacklist” for murdering upwards of 15,000 children in Gaza, beyond dismissing it as an incorrect move, other countries, that place value on the opinion of the UN and international law, may choose to take action.

The move may end up placing pressure on some nations to take stronger steps against Israel, while the most impact may be on the conduct of corporations and companies in doing business with the Israeli regime. Possible legal baggage, widespread boycott campaigns and stains on the reputations of businesses working with a State registered on a “blacklist” for harming children may deter many working relationships and inflict further damage to the Israeli economy.

It is also not a good look to have your nation noted on a list, alongside ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabab and Boko Haram. At the start of the Gaza war, the Israeli propaganda campaign tried desperately to connect Hamas with ISIS, so this represents another public relations blow.

In fact, when you look at the number of children killed by ISIS in total during its entire existence, it doesn’t even come close to the number of children murdered by the Israeli military in just over 8 months. For instance, during the first two years of the ISIS insurgency in Iraq, the UN reported that the group killed 18,800 civilians in total; these two years were the group’s most bloodthirsty and were truly shocking.

However, the Israeli military has murdered over 15,500 children alone in Gaza in a much shorter period of time and if you are to include those missing under the rubble, Israel has killed more children than the total ISIS civilian kill toll in its worst years of terror.

Adding Israel to the UN’s infamous blacklist may have small to no short-term impacts, but could be added to piling evidence presented against the Israelis at the ICJ and will forever remain as a stain on their record. This decision is one of many that make the situation in Gaza even more clear.

(Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. Courtesy: The Palestine Chronicle, a website that strives to highlight issues of relevance to human rights, national struggles, freedom and democracy. It is edited by Dr Ramzy Baroud.)