Hamas welcomes UN report on Israel's crimes against children

Palestine’s Islamic Resistance Movement has welcomed a report by the UN Rights of the Child Committee which reveals details of Israel’s systematic criminal acts against Palestinian children. In a media statement, a Hamas spokesman said, “We welcome the UN report which reaffirms Israel’s violation of the most basic human rights and that Israel commits crimes against child prisoners.” Even though the report is “very late”, he said, the movement believes that it is “a step in the right direction”.

Hamas called on the United Nations to translate the report into practical steps which will not only proscribe the Israeli occupation but also deter it from committing similar crimes and prosecute its leaders as war criminals. The spokesman noted that the report covers only a small portion of the suffering undergone by Palestinian minors held by the Israelis. Hamas called upon the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah to end all forms of security coordination with the Israeli occupation.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation has also demanded that Israel be taken to the international criminal court. The PLO said that human rights and humanitarian organisations should intervene “immediately” to expose further Israel’s crimes against Palestinian prisoners and put pressure on the government to release them.