Targeting of children is utterly unacceptable: UN Secretary-General on death of Palestinian children

New York: Deploring the deaths of the three Palestinian children, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the targeting of children or exposing them to risk leading to violence is utterly unacceptable. This has been told by a spokesman. Stephane Dujarric said that the secretary-general has appealed to all to refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties, in particular, any measures that could place children in harm’s way.

Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch director in Israel and the Palestinian territories has termed the killing of the boys as a violation of human rights law.

Three teenage boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike. Hundreds of Palestinians gathered on Monday to lay the teenagers to rest. They took to the streets Sunday night, burning tires. The sit-ins went on through dawn Monday.

While the Israeli military said the teens had attempted to damage the border fence and were apparently involved in placing an improvised explosive device near it, the families of the teenagers say that they had nothing to do with resistance and they were innocent. Palestinians argue that the area where the incident occurred has not been used as a site for protests.