The Arab League has called on the United Nations to add Israel to its annual “list of shame” of countries that commit violations against children in armed conflicts.
Assistant Secretary-General of the League Haifa Abu Ghazaleh made the appeal in a speech at the 54th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in the Swiss city of Geneva on Sunday, under item seven of the council’s agenda concerned with the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In her speech, Abu Ghazaleh stressed the need to put pressure on Israel to halt its settlement expansion policies, arming settlers, violations of Islamic and Christian sanctities and its discriminatory measures against Palestinians, including seizing lands, demolishing homes and property, and stealing wealth and natural resources.
She also emphasized on the importance of ensuring international protection for Palestinians by sending international observers and UN committees and enabling them to enter the occupied Palestinian territories.
Abu Ghazaleh further called for immediate action to release Palestinian prisoners who are held under the so-called administrative detention in Israeli jails.
Back in July, a report by the director of the Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies (PCPS) revealed that Israeli forces have arrested as many as 570 Palestinian minors since the beginning of 2023.
The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, said in early June that the international community needs to intervene to end Israel’s violations against Palestinian children.
In the occupied West Bank, Hamas added, Israel keeps kidnapping and jailing minors, and in some cases even kills them, places them under house arrest or uses them as human shields.
Hamas has already called on the UN to include Israel in its annual List of Shame for its violations against Palestinian children.
