Israel and an armed Palestinian group in Gaza used a small number of children as human shields in 2022, according to the newly released United Nations report on Children and Armed Conflict.
“The UN verified the recruitment and use of 4 Palestinian children (3 boys, 1 girl) by Israeli forces as human shields (3) and by the Nasser Sarah al-Din Brigades (1) as combatants in the occupied West Bank (3) and the Gaza Strip (1),” stated the report released on Tuesday afternoon in New York.
The UN had warned last year that it would blacklist Israel, the Palestinian Authority and armed groups such as Hamas over the treatment of children if the situation were to deteriorate.
In the end, however, it left Israel and the Palestinian entities off the list because of the reduction in the number of child deaths and casualties as well as in acknowledgment of the outreach efforts by all parties concerned to the UN in an effort to safeguard minors in combat zones.
Palestinian children sleep next to one another in their house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, May 10, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/BASSAM MASOUD)Report found drop in the number of children deaths
There was a 37% drop in the number of children deaths from 88 in 2021 to 55 in 2022 as well as a 53% drop in the number of minors maimed from 1,128 in 2021 to 524 2022. The bulk of the deaths and injuries were to Palestinian children.
In the previous report that covered the year 2021 the high death and casualty counts were largely attributable to the 11-day Gaza war.
In 2022, the report said that most of the death and injuries were as the result of live fire by Israeli security forces during law enforcement operations in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
The report blamed the deaths of nine Palestinian children and 100 wounded on failed rocket launches by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
In a press briefing Virginia Gamba, the UN’s Special Representative on the topic of Children and Armed Conflict, explained that the report categorizes minors up to 18 years of age as a child.
The tally of child deaths in the report does not distinguish between those who were innocent victims and those who were engaged in violence when they were killed, she explained
Gamba who visited Israel in December defended the UN’s decision not to place Israel on its blacklist.
“We have to give time for the measures that both sides have agreed to implement this year,” Gamba said.
Never before have all three parties agreed to put their signature behind measures to be put in place to reduce the harm to children, she explained.
“The fact remains that last year’s figures are less than the year before and this is the reason why they (Israel and the Palestinian Authority) are not being listed this year,” Gamba said.
But, she said, she was concerned by the violence this year, particularly by settlers and Palestinian armed groups. “We are trying to keep close tabs on settlers and other armed groups” that might be appearing in the West Bank, she said.
The report did not speak about social media, but Gamba mentioned that her office was also looking at the use of social media to incite children.
Separately the United Nations did in its report blacklist Russia for its killing of 477 children during the invasion of Ukraine that began last year.