UN Report Says Israel Recorded Highest Number of Grave Violations Against Children in 2025

UN Report Says Israel Recorded Highest Number of Grave Violations Against Children in 2025
————————————–
A new United Nations report says 2025 saw the highest number of verified grave violations against children since UN monitoring began, with Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory recording the largest number of cases.

The annual report of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict documented 38,558 verified grave violations against children in 2025. The violations affected 24,174 children and included killing and maiming, recruitment and use by armed groups, abduction, sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, and denial of humanitarian access.

For the first time since the UN’s Children and Armed Conflict mandate was established 30 years ago, government forces were identified as the leading perpetrators of grave violations against children. The report linked the rise to escalating hostilities, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and concerns over artificial intelligence in military targeting.

Killing and maiming remained the most frequently verified violations. The UN documented 6,266 children killed and 7,958 maimed, with child killings rising by 34 percent compared with 2024. The report also recorded 8,322 incidents of denial of humanitarian access, 6,607 cases of child recruitment and use, and 5,129 child abductions.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory recorded 12,445 verified violations, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Myanmar and Somalia. The UN attributed most violations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to Israeli forces.

According to the report, 9,465 violations were attributed to Israeli armed and security forces, while 326 were attributed to Israeli settlers. The UN verified the killing of 2,725 Palestinian children, including 2,668 in Gaza and 57 in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Responsibility for another 2,518 verified child killings remains under review.

The report also verified the maiming of 2,921 Palestinian children, most of them in Gaza, and documented 828 attacks on schools and hospitals, including 773 attributed to Israeli armed and security forces. It also recorded 5,946 incidents of denial of humanitarian access, most attributed to Israeli forces.

Despite the findings, the report noted that 13,112 children formerly associated with armed forces or armed groups received protection or reintegration support in 2025.