By SCM Staff Writer I June 5, 2026
JERUSALEM — Hamas on Wednesday urged the United Nations to officially blacklist Israel for severe violations against Palestinian children, citing a staggering toll of deaths, injuries, and displacement resulting from the grinding war in the Gaza Strip.
The appeal coincided with the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, an annual U.N. observance meant to highlight the plight of children affected by war.
In a stark public statement, Hamas accused Israel of systematic “killings, injuries, displacement, detention, and deprivation of basic rights” targeting Gaza’s youngest population.
According to figures cited by the group, more than 21,000 children have been killed and upwards of 44,000 injured since Israel launched its military campaign in October 2023. Hamas also emphasized that thousands more have been orphaned, separated from their families, or left homeless as entire neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble.
”The international community must take urgent action to protect Palestinian children,” the movement said in a statement, which also called for a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance to alleviate the widespread hunger and medical shortages plaguing the enclave.
Israel has consistently defended its military operations in Gaza, asserting that its forces take extensive precautions to avoid civilian casualties.
It blames Hamas for the high toll on minors, accusing the militant group of embedding its fighters, rocket launchers, and command centers within dense residential areas, schools, and hospitals—thereby using children as “human shields.” Hamas denies these allegations.
The demand by Hamas taps into a long-standing, highly contentious diplomatic battle over the U.N. Secretary-General’s annual “Children and Armed Conflict” report.
The report features an annex—frequently referred to as the “list of shame”—that names governments and militant factions responsible for grave violations against children, including killing, maiming, recruitment, and attacks on schools and hospitals.
Being placed on the blacklist carries significant reputational weight and can trigger formal U.N. scrutiny or sanctions against the listed parties.
For years, human rights organizations—including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International—have lobbied the U.N. to include Israel on the list, pointing to casualties from previous escalations in Gaza and the West Bank.
Successive Israeli governments have aggressively lobbied against such a move, arguing that its military adheres to international humanitarian law and maintains rigorous internal legal review processes.
The current conflict, which began following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, has inflicted a civilian toll unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. U.N. agencies and independent aid organizations have repeatedly warned that children are bearing the brunt of the crisis. Beyond direct military strikes, experts have raised alarms over the severe psychological trauma, the near-total collapse of the educational system, and acute malnutrition caused by tight restrictions on aid entry.
While Hamas’s appeal puts renewed public pressure on the U.N., the decision to add a state to the blacklist ultimately rests with the U.S. and its allies’ diplomatic maneuvering, alongside the findings of the U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.