The United Nations has warned that children are “increasingly unprotected” as humanitarian groups and rights defenders are forced to scale back their operations in the Palestinian territories.
Many civil society and aid organisations in Gaza and the West Bank have been labelled “terrorists” by pro-Israel groups or politicians, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child warned in a statement issued on Monday, noting that their absence leaves children vulnerable.
“For more than three decades, these organisations have played a vital role in defending Palestinian children, including in the Israeli military courts, and in documenting grave violations against Palestinian children at the hands of Israeli forces,” the committee said.
“Without them, Palestinian children will be even less protected, and violations of their rights risk continuing with impunity,” it added.
Issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the statement noted that tactics used to delegitimise these human rights groups also include “military raids, travel bans, personal financial sanctions, threats of arrest, destruction of records, and even threats of secondary sanctions against partners who support their work”.
The committee said this made it “increasingly impossible for these organisations to operate safely or protect the children and families who turn to them for help”.
The committee urged the international community to hold Israeli authorities accountable for the attacks committed against Palestinian human rights defenders.
It urged the Israeli authorities to lift the restrictions faced by humanitarian individuals and groups.
“Despite grave risks and limited resources, child rights defenders have continued to stand with Palestinian children and families in extraordinarily dangerous conditions. They must be protected, not punished,” the committee said.
Israel has cracked down significantly on humanitarian operations in Gaza since the “ceasefire” that began on October 10, banning Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, after it failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff, further depriving Palestinians in the besieged enclave of life-saving assistance.
In February this year, 17 international aid groups petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to be allowed to keep working in the Gaza Strip and other areas in the occupied Palestinian territory. The Israeli government has planned to halt their life-saving work.
