The United Nations will put Israel on its blacklist of countries and organizations harming children in conflict zones, U.N. Sec. Gen. Antonio Guterres told Israel's Defense Attache in the U.S., Maj. Gen. Hedy Silberman, Israeli media reported on Thursday.

Despite weeks-long Israeli efforts to dissuade Guterres from taking this step, Israel is expected to be included in the list that will be published next week as part of a report to the U.N. Security Council, according to Channel 13 News.

Ynet News had reported last month that Israeli officials were increasingly concerned the move was imminent, with sources telling the newspaper "The current Secretary-General hates Israel and it is no longer possible to influence him."

"The meaning of Israel's inclusion in the blacklist is very problematic and may cause countries in the world to impose an arms embargo on Israel," the sources added.

Israel will join countries like Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Syria, as well as terrorist organizations like al-Qaida, ISIS, and Boko Haram. Last year, Russia was added to the list for attacking Ukrainian schools and hospitals and transferring children from Ukraine to Russia.

The list includes the aforementioned countries and organizations under the heading, "Parties that have not taken sufficient steps to improve the protection of children."

The Palestinian Authority has long demanded Israel's inclusion on the blacklist and protested against the U.N. decision not to include it last year. In 2023, Guterres had praised Israel's engagement with the U.N. special envoy for children in armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, and the "identification of practical measures including those proposed by the U.N." to protect children.

According to the Palestinians, last year Israel committed "grave violations" against 1,139 Palestinian children, including 54 killings. Israel has criticized these statistics since Palestinians count everyone under 18 as a child, despite many of the killed being armed and shot by security forces during anti-terror raids.

According to Ynet, a first draft of the report included no reference to Hamas and Islamic Jihad's use of hospitals or children as human shields or the terrorists' firing rockets at Israel's civilian population, including kindergartens, hospitals, and schools.

It also accused Israel of killing six minors in Lebanon, without mentioning Hezbollah's attacks on Israel.

The draft included accusations that Israel committed 20,000 allegations of violations against children, 459 allegations of attacks on schools, and 326 allegations of attacks on hospitals.

Republished with permission from All Israel News