U.N. Adds Israel to ‘List of Shame’ As Gaza Carnage Continues with 77 Killed
The UN has added Israel to a 'list of shame' of offenders who target children, as 77 more people were killed in the Gaza Strip
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has added Israel’s military to a global list of offenders who have committed violations against children, as 77 people were killed in new Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli envoy to the UN Gilad Erdan said he was officially notified of the decision on Friday. The global list is included in a report on children and armed conflict that is due to be submitted to the UN Security Council on June 14.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the decision would impact the country’s relations with the United Nations.
A hospital in Gaza reported that at least 37 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli attack on a UN-operated school on Thursday.
The United States has urged Israel to provide complete transparency regarding7 the strike.
“The government of Israel has said that they are going to release more information about this strike, including the names of those who died in it. We expect them to be fully transparent in making that information public,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called the strike “just another horrific example of the price that civilians are paying”.
“There will need to be accountability for everything that has happened in Gaza,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for the strike to be “independently investigated”.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah, near Nuseirat, said it had received the bodies of at least “37 martyrs” from the strike.
The conflict has killed thousands, laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip, uprooted most of its 2.4 million people and put them at risk of starvation.
Efforts to mediate the first ceasefire since a week-long pause in November appear to have stalled, only a week after US President Joe Biden offered a new roadmap.
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Anti-war activists demanding an end to the war in Gaza and to American support for Israel plan to surround the White House during a weekend protest, prompting additional security measures, including anti-scale fencing.
Advocacy and activist groups like CODEPINK and the Council on American Islamic Relations said on Friday that demonstrations were planned on Saturday, marking eight months of Israel’s war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands while causing a humanitarian crisis with widespread hunger and destruction.
At least eight officials have quit the administration of President Joe Biden citing their opposition to his policy. Protesters have also disrupted some of Biden’s reelection campaign events. Biden is currently in France for an official visit.
The United States, Israel’s key ally, has seen months of pro-Palestinian protests ranging from marches in Washington and vigils near the White House to the blocking of bridges and roads near train stations and airports in multiple cities and encampments on many college campuses.
