The UN Leaves Israel and Hamas Off Its 'List of Shame' for Abuses of Children in Conflict

Following months of diplomat pressure, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has omitted both Israel and Hamas from a list of armies and militant groups that violate the rights of children in conflict — an annex that would have seen the two categorized alongside the likes of the Islamic State, the governments of Sudan and South Sudan, and Syria's Assad regime.

The list, which appears at the end of the Secretary General's annual report on children in armed conflict, took on unprecedented controversy this year when it emerged that Leila Zerrougui, the UN's special representative on the issue, had advocated for the inclusion of both Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza. Criteria for the parties' inclusion in the report's annex is meant to be based on findings that they, "recruit or use children, kill or maim children, commit rape and other forms of sexual violence against children, or engage in attacks on schools and/or hospitals in the situation of armed conflict."

Related: The 173 Billion Dollar Question: What Israel and Palestine Could Gain From Peace    

While a spokesperson for Mr. Ban would not confirm or deny what Zerrougui had advocated for, sources at the UN confirmed to VICE News she had included both Hamas and Israel in an earlier draft submitted to the Secretary General. Speaking to reporters, Ban's spokesperson Stephan Dujarric stressed the Secretary General had the final say on the report bearing his name, regardless of prior input from UN experts.

"The recommendation of an SRSG [special representative to the Secretary General] is part of a wider process of consultation, of decision making," Dujarric told reporters Tuesday. "This is what happened in this case, and this is what happens in a number of cases."

The case for including either or both Israel and Hamas largely stems from last summer's war in Gaza, when hundreds of Palestinian children were killed by the Israeli military, and Hamas launched rockets, many indiscriminately, across the border of Gaza into Israel. Hamas was also accused by the UN of storing weapons in some schools during the war.

Despite not including either party in the so-called "List of Shame," the report devoted four full pages to cataloguing the deaths of at least 561 children in Israel and Palestine during 2014. 557 of those children were Palestinian, while 4 were Israeli. The death toll among children in Gaza surpassed the number of minors confirmed killed in Syria last year, according to the UN, though Ban added the real total in Syria was likely much higher.

The UN found that at least 540 of the Palestinian children who were killed last year died during Israel's Operation Protective incursion into Gaza. The UN found that 13 of those children died as a result of rockets fired by Palestinian armed groups that failed to reach their targets inside Israel. Ban said the alleged violations by both sides raised "concern over the observances of the rules of international humanitarian law concerning the conduct of hostilities."

A further 4,271 Palestinian children, and 22 Israeli children, were injured in 2014, according to the UN. Of those, the UN estimates as many as 1,000 Palestinian children who were injured during the Gaza war are likely permanently disabled.

In a coda to the section on Israel and Palestine, Ban said he was "deeply alarmed at the extent of grave violations suffered by children as a result of Israeli operations in 2014," and called on violators of human rights to be brought to justice.

Related: Hamas Killed and Tortured Palestinians in Gaza Conflict, Report Claims    

Upon learning of the diplomatic pressure being exerted on Ban, human rights groups began pushing the Secretary General to include both Hamas and the Israel in the report. Those efforts failed.

"The Secretary General should have listened to the advice of his special representative and included both Israel and Hamas, who, based on the facts, deserve to be listed," Philippe Bolopion, Human Rights Watch's UN & crisis advocacy director, told VICE News. "Instead, it appears that Ban succumbed to political pressure."

In the report, the UN counted at least 262 schools and 274 kindergartens in Gaza that were damaged in Israeli airstrikes between July 8 and August 26. 83 schools run by the UN in Gaza were damaged from airstrikes and shelling, resulting in the deaths of 42 people seeking shelter in them, including 16 children. The report highlighted the shelling of one school, the Beit Hanoun elementary Co-ed A and D school, where around 450 Palestinians had taken refuge when it was hit by IDF mortar fire on July 24.

"The location of the school was provided to Israeli authorities by United Nations staff on 12 separate occasions over the seven days leading up to the incident, including the day of the incident itself," said Ban, who reported fighting had taken place "in the vicinity of the school prior to, but not at the time of the incident itself."

The shelling resulted in the deaths of at least 12 people, including six children.

In a series of tweets attributed to its UN ambassador Ron Prosor on Monday, Israel's mission to the UN hailed Ban's decision not to include Israel among "organizations like ISIS, al Qaeda and the Taliban."

Related: International Criminal Court Urges Israel and Palestine To Provide Information on Alleged War Crimes    

On Tuesday, Palestine's UN ambassador Riyad Mansour said in a statement, "we deeply regret the Secretary-General's decision," not to list Israel, adding that the "decision strikingly contradicts the UN's own evidence and the set criteria on this matter."

The UN also found that 1,218 children were injured in the West Bank — more than half of whom were younger than 12 — where roughly 91 percent "were injured in confrontations" with security forces. The UN said 231 children in the West Bank were hit by live ammunition during 2014, and 530 by rubber-coated bullets. 700 children in East Jerusalem were arrested by Israeli authorities, including 70 who were younger than 13.

Ban also cited violence committed by Israeli settlers, and "related incidents involving" Israeli security forces that led to the injury of 63 Palestinian children. Elsewhere, he tallied nine allegations of child recruitment against Palestinian armed groups, among them the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

During 2014, Palestine saw the third highest number of confirmed child deaths in the world, behind Afghanistan's 710 and Iraq's 679. In Iraq, the UN documented the abduction of at least 1,297 children, including 685 girls. Nearly all the kidnappings, which often resulted in the girls being sold as sex slaves, were perpetrated by the Islamic State.

Follow Samuel Oakford on Twitter: @samueloakford

Watch the VICE News documentary, "Fallout in Gaza: Six Months On."

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