CNN
 — 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has added Israel’s military to a global list of offenders who have committed violations against children, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed in his Friday press briefing.

Israel had been told it is being placed on the list of offenders that harm children in the Secretary-General’s annual report of children in armed conflict to be sent to the UNSC next Friday, Dujarric said.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad were also added to the list, according to a diplomatic source.

Dujarric added that the Israeli UN mission was called by the Secretary-General’s chief of staff on Friday, a courtesy afforded to countries that are newly listed. “It is done to give those countries a heads up and avoid leaks,” he said.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, made a video recording of the phone call from the UN and leaked part of it on social media.

In the video, Erdan can be heard expressing his outrage at the UN decision saying, “The IDF is the most moral army in the world. The one who entered the ‘blacklist’ today is the UN Secretary-General, who encourages and incentives terrorism and acts out of hatred for Israel. Shame on him!”

Dujarric said it was “shocking and unacceptable” that Erdan had published the private call, saying it was “something he had never seen in my 24 years serving this organization.”

Israel’s inclusion on the list comes after eight months of war in Gaza, in which more than 15,500 children have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The UN’s so-called ‘blacklist’ has previously included countries such as Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

The annual report will go to the Security Council on June 14. The official report will be published on June 18. It will be discussed at a debate in the Council on June 26.

The Security Council tasks the Secretary-General with producing this report. Asked about ramifications, the UN spokesman said it will be up to the members to decide any action.

Dujarric encouraged everyone to read the entire report.

The war has seen Israel-UN relations reach historic lows with Israeli diplomats using their platforms at the UN to denounce the world body.

Israel’s quarrel with the UN has gone beyond the secretary-general. Israeli officials have also criticized the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the World Health Organization, UN Women, and the UN’s Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese.

Meanwhile, dozens of UN staffers have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began, the largest loss in the world body’s history.

Israel has long accused UNRWA of anti-Israeli incitement, which UNRWA has repeatedly denied, and in 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to dismantle the UN body, saying it should be merged with the main UN refugee agency.

Since the October 7 attack, Israeli journalists and news outlets have refocused their attention on UNRWA and have amplified stories questioning its role in the war.