Israel is facing mounting international pressure on multiple fronts. The United Nations has signalled that it may add groups of Israeli settlers to its blacklist of parties that violate children's rights in armed conflicts, even as the Israeli government has escalated its settlement activities in the city of Hebron in the West Bank and decided to cut off communications with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas following remarks attributed to her about Israel's policies towards Palestinians.
In its annual report on children and armed conflict, the UN warned that groups of Israeli settlers could in the future be added to the "list of shame" if violations recorded against Palestinian children continue through 2026 — a first for the report, which for the first time directly identifies settlers as a party that may face such a designation.
The report recorded 38,558 grave violations against 24,174 children around the world during 2025, the highest figure since the UN's monitoring mechanism began operating in 1996.
The international body confirmed that 14,224 children were killed or maimed during the past year, including 2,668 Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and 57 children in the occupied West Bank.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "appalled by the scale of grave violations committed against children in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel," expressing "grave concern over the staggering rise in attacks carried out by Israeli settlers, resulting in grave violations against Palestinian children."
The report recorded 9,465 grave violations attributed to Israeli forces and 326 violations attributed to Israeli settlers.
These violations include the killing and maiming of children, sexual violence, and attacks on schools and hospitals.
The UN meanwhile kept Hamas's military wing and affiliated Palestinian armed factions on its blacklist, attributing to them 2,806 violations against children, including killings, maiming, and abductions.
The report comes weeks after Israel was placed on a separate UN list relating to sexual violence in conflict zones, a move that prompted Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to announce it was cutting ties with the UN on that file.
In the West Bank, Israeli authorities approved a plan to expand a Jewish settler school in the heart of the historic city of Hebron, a move that drew Palestinian criticism as undermining arrangements stipulated in the Hebron Agreement signed in 1997.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the project involves constructing a new building of 1,000 square metres within the area of the city under full Israeli security control.
"We are continuing to build the land of Israel in practice and to apply actual sovereignty in the settlements," he said in a statement.
On the diplomatic front, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar announced the severing of "all communications" with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, after remarks were attributed to her in which she compared Israel's policies towards Palestinians to the apartheid system that existed in South Africa.
Sa'ar said Israel would halt contact with Kallas until she retracted what he described as "defamatory statements," stressing that the decision would stand unless she clarified her position on the remarks attributed to her.
"I have no choice but to cut off all communications with Ms Kallas until she retracts the blood libel she has directed" at Israel, Sa'ar said.
"Blood libel" is a figurative term referring to a set of accusations against Jews alleging that they commit killings for religious purposes. Kallas responded by affirming the importance of continued dialogue between the two sides, saying "dialogue is the foundation of diplomacy" and adding that the EU is "always committed to a constructive relationship with Israel."
Kallas affirmed that "the two-state solution is the only viable path to achieving peace in the Middle East," noting that the EU continues to oppose Israeli settlements in the West Bank as an obstacle to achieving that goal.
On the ground, Palestinian medical sources reported that 3 Palestinians were killed and others wounded in an Israeli strike targeting a civilian vehicle near the Abu Khadra Mosque in the Al-Rimal neighbourhood in western Gaza City. The Palestinian news agency Wafa said the attack was carried out by an Israeli drone.