The Israeli military and security forces have once again been formally listed by the United Nations as perpetrators of grave violations against children in armed conflict.

According to an unreleased UN report covering the year 2024, violence against children in conflict zones reached an all-time high, with a shocking 25% increase in grave violations compared to the previous year. The UN documented an unprecedented 41,370 violations globally, with over 8,500 of those attributed to Israeli forces and settlers targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

The report verifies that of the 2,959 children affected in the region, only 15 were Israeli, while a staggering 2,944 were Palestinian. The overwhelming majority of violations—7,188—were committed by Israeli soldiers and security forces, with Israeli settlers also implicated. Violations included killings, maimings, abductions, detention, torture, and the denial of critical humanitarian aid.

The data reveals that in 2024 alone, 4,676 children were killed and 7,291 were injured worldwide, with Palestinian children bearing a disproportionately high burden of that violence. In Gaza, 4,856 violations were recorded, while 3,688 were documented in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. These figures are expected to rise sharply in the 2025 report due to the ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza.

Highlighting the scale of repression, the report states that Israeli forces detained 951 Palestinian children in 2024, with credible reports of ill-treatment and sexual abuse in custody. Furthermore, access to humanitarian aid was systematically blocked—impacting thousands of children across Gaza and the West Bank.

Despite the clear findings, the UN also listed Palestinian resistance factions—the Al-Qassam and Al-Quds Brigades—among violators, a move criticized by observers who argue it equates indigenous resistance with the occupying military power.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed horror at the scope of violations, saying he was “appalled by the intensity of grave violations against children” in Palestine and “deeply alarmed” by escalating violence in the West Bank. A senior UN official described the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza as “man-made and it can be unmade,” warning that the scale of next year’s violations may remain undocumented due to the killing of monitors and destruction of institutions.

The Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel now top the UN's list of the most dangerous places in the world for children, alongside conflict zones like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Nigeria, and Haiti.

This report lays bare the brutal reality faced by Palestinian children under occupation: a life defined by constant threat, systematic violence, and a deafening silence from much of the international community. (ILKHA)