The United Nations has called for “massive psychological support” for children in Gaza who will suffer “traumatic and long-lasting” effects from the war.
Ann Skelton, Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, said, “The rights of children living under the state of Israel’s effective control are being gravely violated at a level that has rarely been seen in recent history.”
Skelton also said that assistance must be made available for Israeli children who lived through traumatic events on October 7.
“We call for massive psychosocial support for children and families to relieve the traumatic and long-lasting impact of war, including Israeli children who were victims of, or witnesses to, the [October 7] attacks and those whose family members have been taken hostage.”
The Israeli diplomatic mission in Geneva said it would issue a statement on the U.N. committee’s comments shortly.
UNICEF said last week that nearly all children in Gaza were thought to require mental health support.
Skelton said Israel had postponed its participation in a planned dialogue on child issues and that it was now scheduled to take place in September.
“The committee deeply regrets that it did not have the opportunity to review Israel when time is of the essence,” she said.
Skelton also voiced concern for children living in the occupied West Bank, which she said faced “facing arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and violence committed by occupying forces and settlers.”
Israel’s military has said it operates against suspected militants in the West Bank.
The West Bank had already been experiencing the highest levels of unrest in decades during the months preceding the Oct. 7 assault on Israel, but confrontations have increased sharply following the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.
Israel’s Creation Of Buffer Zone Criticized
Volker Turk, the UN high commissioner for human rights, says that the Israeli forces’ destruction of all buildings located within one kilometre (0.62 miles) of the fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip, with the aim of creating a “buffer zone”, is prohibited under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
“Since late October 2023, my office has recorded widespread destruction and demolition by the Israeli army of civilian and other infrastructure, including residential buildings, schools and universities in areas where fighting is not taking place or is no longer taking place,” Turk said in a statement.
“This destruction of homes and other basic civilian infrastructure also leads to the permanent displacement of communities that were living in these areas before the war, and it appears that this destruction aims to make returning to those areas impossible,” he continued.
“I remind the [Israeli] authorities that the forcible transfer of civilians may constitute a war crime.”
“Destructions carried out to create a ‘buffer zone’ for general security purposes do not appear consistent with the narrow ‘military operations’ exception set out in international humanitarian law,” Turk said in a statement.
“Further, extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, amounts to a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a war crime.”
The United States has said that it does not support the creation of a buffer zone that would physically diminish the territory of Gaza. However, the US has taken no steps to pressure Israel to stop the demolitions, some of which have been posted on social media by Israeli soldiers.
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