JERUSALEM: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on Wednesday accused the UN Human Rights Council of anti-Semitism as he announced Israel would boycott the United Nations body.
“This body has focused on attacking a democratic country and propagating anti-Semitism, instead of promoting human rights,” Saar said in a post on X.
The minister cited Israel being “the only country with an agenda item dedicated solely to it” and the subject of more resolutions than “Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela combined.”
“Israel joins the United States and will not participate in the UNHRC,” Saar said.
In response to the boycott announcement, UNHRC spokesman Pascal Sim said Israel had “observer state status” within the rights body and was “not one of the 47 member states.”
As such, it cannot “withdraw from the council,” he added.
Israel has previously participated in periodic reviews that UN members must submit to the UNHRC.
For several years, however, it has boycotted debates on the “human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.”
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order saying Washington was withdrawing from a number of United Nations bodies, including its Human Rights Council.
The executive order also said it withdrew the United States from the UN relief agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, with which Israel cut ties on Thursday accusing the body of providing cover for Hamas militants.
Israel says to boycott UN Human Rights Council over ‘anti-Semitism’
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Israel says to boycott UN Human Rights Council over ‘anti-Semitism’
- Israel is an observer state and not one of the 47 member states of the UNHRC
Thousands of Gaza children suffer from famine conditions
- “The number of children admitted is five times higher than in February, so we need to see the numbers come down further”
GENEVA: Thousands of children have been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in Gaza since an October ceasefire that was supposed to enable a major increase in humanitarian aid, the UN children’s agency said on Tuesday.
UNICEF, the biggest provider of malnutrition treatment in Gaza, said that 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October, when the first phase of an agreement to end the two-year Israel-Hamas war came into effect.
FASTFACTS
• UNICEF, the biggest provider of malnutrition treatment in Gaza, said that 9,300 children were treated for severe acute malnutrition in October. • While this is down from a peak of over 14,000 in August, the number is still significantly higher than during a brief February-March ceasefire.
While this is down from a peak of over 14,000 in August, the number is still significantly higher than during a brief February-March ceasefire and indicates that aid flows remain insufficient, UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told a Geneva press briefing by video link from Gaza.
“It’s still a shockingly high number,” she said.
“The number of children admitted is five times higher than in February, so we need to see the numbers come down further.” Ingram described meeting underweight babies weighing less than 1 kilogram born in hospitals “their tiny chests heaving with the effort of staying alive.”
UNICEF is able to import considerably more aid into the enclave than it was before the October 10 agreement but obstacles remain, she said, citing delays and denials of cargoes at crossings, route closures and ongoing security challenges.
“We have seen some improvement, but we continue to call for all of the available crossings into the Gaza Strip to be open,” she added. There are not enough commercial supplies entering Gaza, she added, saying that meat was still prohibitively expensive at around $20 a kilogram.
“Most families can’t access this, and that’s why we’re still seeing high rates of malnutrition,” she said.
In August, a UN-backed hunger monitor determined that famine conditions were affecting about half a million people — or a quarter of Gaza’s population.
Children were severly affected by hunger as the war progressed, with experts warning that the effects could cause lasting damage.
