Some UN Security Council members clash over child protection report as US defends Israel

Some UN Security Council members clashed Wednesday over a UN report on children in armed conflict, with the US defending Israel, while other members condemned Israeli atrocities against Palestinian children.

Colombia's UN envoy Leonor Zalabata Torres, who chairs the Council this month, said the report points to "state forces" as being responsible for "the greatest number of grave violations registered during the last year," singling out the Gaza Strip as "the place in the world with the highest number of registered grave violations, most of them attributed" to Israeli forces.

She said independent investigations have documented "an alarming pattern of deliberate attacks by the IDF (Israeli military) against children," and asked, "What cause or what kind of security excuse could possibly justify shooting in cold blood, a child or a baby just a few months old?"

Torres said evidence points to "the same kind of systematic narrative of dehumanization that, instead of seeing a child, imagines a future enemy," as she urged on the Council to "recognize the genocidal intention of the government of Israel."

Pakistan's deputy UN envoy Usman Jadoon said it is "appalling that more than 12,000 incidents of grave violations occurred only in one year against children in the occupied Palestinian territory," warning that the psychological trauma and physical atrocities endured by children in situations of foreign occupation are "extremely alarming."

Somalia's deputy envoy, Mohamed Rabi Yusuf, said the report "lays bare an unfortunate truth," noting that "children are being killed, maimed, and denied their most basic rights" across conflicts, with their futures "buried beneath rubble, both real and symbolic."

China's Fu Cong welcomed the continued listing of perpetrators of grave violations against children in Gaza, Haiti and other regions in the report, and urged close monitoring of the situation on the ground.

Maria Zabolotskaya from Russia said the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank have topped the "blood-curdling" global ranking of child rights violations for a third consecutive year. She accused the UN secretary-general's report of failing to reflect what she described as violations against Russian children by Ukrainian forces.

Meanwhile, US Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs Jennifer Locetta abstained from denouncing Israeli military actions against Palestinian children, instead saying that "children in conflict zones around the world face many threats."

Responding to criticism by Israel in the chamber, Locetta again placed the sole blame on Hamas for Israel's grave violations against Palestinian children.

"You cannot talk about the situation in Gaza without mentioning Hamas. Hamas is a terror organization willing to use civilians, including children, as human shields," she claimed.

She also criticized the UN report for "falsely equating the actions of US armed forces with those of Houthi terrorists," noting that the document "only reinforces the United States' decision to cease participation in the Office of the Special Representative for CAAC (Children and Armed Conflict)."