UN adds Israel to blacklist of offenders that harm children

The upcoming inclusion of Israel on a U.N. list of countries and armed forces determined to be failing to protect children in war prompted a furious Israeli response Friday.

The annual "Children and Armed Conflict" report from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not due to be published until June 18, but Israel's U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, spoke out after receiving private notification of the inclusion.

Erdan lashed out at Guterres personally, saying: "The only one who is blacklisted today is the secretary-general."

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, said adding Israel to the "list of shame" would not restore the lives of children killed or left permanently disabled in Israeli military attacks.

"But it is an important step in the right direction towards ending the double standards and the culture of impunity Israel has enjoyed for far too long and that left our children vulnerable," he said on X.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on his X social media account that the U.N. "put itself today on history's blacklist when it adopted the absurd claims of Hamas."

Diplomatic sources told that Hamas would also appear on the list.

 'Long overdue' 

Israel launched its war on Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures.

Hamas also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza; among them 37 the army says are dead.

Israel's offensive has killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Israel has also delayed the entry of aid into Gaza, depriving the...