Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's statements in which he criticized Israel for the death and suffering of Palestinian children during last summer's aggression on Gaza, calling it a "black day for the UN."
Netanyahu said Ban chooses to reprimand Israel instead of "highlighting the fact that Hamas made hostages of Gaza’s children when it fired at Israel from preschools, and dug tunnels towards Israeli preschools."
According to UN statistics, Israel killed 540 Palestinian children out of more than 2100 victims killed during its massive aggression on Gaza.
"At the same time, Hamas is awarded immunity by the UN, even though it has been proven beyond any doubt that it committed war crimes by firing from hospitals, mosques and from within UN facilities. It turns out there is no limit to hypocrisy," Netanyahu claimed.
For his part, Ron Prosor, permanent representative of Israel to the UN, accused the UN of adopting double standard policy in dealing with Israel.
Prosor's remarks came following a UN report containing exceptionally harsh criticism of Israel, particularly in connection with the killing of more than 500 Palestinian children in Israel's summer offensive on Gaza.
In the report, Leila Zerrougui, the secretary general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, called the effect on children "unprecedented and unacceptable", and wrote that it prompted grave concerns about Israel’s application of international law, particularly with respect to everything related to excessive use of force.
Prosor sent a letter of complaint to Ban in which he accused Zerrougui of bias against Israel and of attempting to hide the fact from Israel that she was writing a report.
Ban, in his part, declared during a Security Council open debate on children and armed conflict his total support for Zerrougui.
Ban Ki-moon on Thursday implicitly accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children, pointing to its last war on the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014.
"I am also deeply alarmed at the suffering of so many children as a result of the Israeli military operations in Gaza last year," the UN head stated.
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