Israeli violations of child rights in Gaza historically unprecedented, says UN committee

The UN child rights committee (CRC) on Thursday accused Israel of committing historically unprecedented violations against Palestinian children.

"The outrageous death of children is almost historically unique. This is an extremely dark place in history," Bragi Gudbrandsson, vice chair of the CRC, told reporters.

"I don't think we have seen before, a violation that is so massive, as we’ve seen in Gaza. These are extremely grave violations that we do not often see," he said.

The committee, which monitors compliance of state parties to the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, on Thursday released its findings on six states, including Israel, after a review during its latest session.

In its report, the committee said it was "greatly concerned about the high number of children in Gaza killed, maimed, injured, missing, displaced, orphaned and subjected to famine, malnutrition and disease, as a result of the state party’s indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks".

It urged Israel to "immediately cease the killing and injuring of Palestinian children in Gaza, to ensure safe and unrestricted humanitarian access to and within the Gaza Strip, and to allow entry of all construction materials necessary for Palestinian families to rebuild homes and civilian and public infrastructure".