Israel Voices Anger at UN Children Rights Envoy

Israeli officials have spoken out against the United Nations children rights envoy, accusing it of misconduct after the international body released a report damning Israeli policy toward children in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 

Earlier this month, the U.N. placed Israel on a draft list of countries that violate children's rights. Though it removed both Israel and Hamas from the final list, the U.N. remained outspokenly critical of Israeli policies, saying they caused harm to children in the Palestinian territories during the 2014 Gaza war. 

In the final report, the U.N. urged Israel “to take concrete and immediate steps, including by reviewing existing policies and practices, to protect children, to prevent the killing and maiming of children, and to respect the special protections afforded to schools and hospitals.” 

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor accused the author of the report, Leila Zerrougui, of “biased conduct against Israel,” and denied that Israel had violated international law during the 2014 Gaza war.   

According to U.N. figures, more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed during the 50-day war war, most of whom were civilians. Of those killed, 540 were children. An deeper inquiry found that Israel had fired on seven U.N. schools and killed 44 Palestinians seeking shelter. It also found that Palestinian militants hid weapons and launched some attacks from empty U.N. schools. 

Prosor voiced deep concern to U.N. secretary Ban Ki-moon over the U.N. allegations, accusing Zerrougui of “improper conduct – at every working level” in the producing the report.  

Zerrougui's office “repeatedly refused attempts on our part to provide official evidence and facts,” wrote Prosor. 

However, Zerrougui's office told Reuters that the study was independent, and was not possible to include all comments from individual governments in the final report.