The United Nations Human Rights Chief, Michelle Bachelet, has strongly censured Israel’s “unconscionable” massacre of Palestinian children following the apartheid regime’s latest indiscriminate attack on the besieged Gaza Strip. 

Despite the “disturbing” figures documented by the international body, Israel has once again escaped any punitive measures as the West continues to shield the regime from its victims facing justice. 

“Inflicting hurt on any child during the course of conflict is deeply disturbing, and the killing and maiming of so many children this year is unconscionable,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said. 

Bachelet expressed her alarm at the high number of Palestinians, including children, killed and injured in the occupied Palestinian territories this year. 

The top UN official was particularly appalled by the unprovoked Israeli attack on the besieged Gaza Strip last week that triggered a three-day battle with the Palestinian resistance. 

According to the UN Human Rights Office, the Israeli military killed 19 Palestinian children in the occupied territories, taking the death toll since the start of the year to 37 children. 

It says Israel killed 17 children during its attack on the Gaza Strip from August 5 to 7 and murdered another two on August 9 during military raids in the occupied West Bank.

The UN Human Rights Office added it has verified that among the 48 Palestinians Israel killed from August 5 to 7, there were at least 22 civilians, including 17 children and four women. This is while “the status of 22 fatalities remains undetermined.”

In another chilling assessment, of the 360 Palestinians, Israel injured, “nearly two-thirds were civilians, including 151 children, 58 women, and 19 older people.”

And in another sign of the regime’s indiscriminate bombing of the Gaza Strip last week, the UN says “in a number of incidents, children were the majority of casualties.”

The UN rights office goes on to say it documented Israeli attacks in the coastal enclave that were “civilian objects” at first sight, “causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian objects.”

“International humanitarian law is clear. Launching an attack which may be expected to incidentally kill or injure civilians, or damage civilian objects, in a disproportionate manner to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated, is prohibited. Such attacks must stop,” Bachelet said. 

While the Palestinian resistance successfully forced Israel into accepting the terms of a ceasefire in Gaza, tensions remain very high in the occupied West Bank, where the regime is conducting deadly military raids across the occupied territories. 

Bachelet has slammed “the widespread use of live ammunition” by Israeli regime forces saying it has also led to an alarming increase in Palestinian fatalities in 2022. The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied West Bank has documented the killing of 74 Palestinians, including 20 children so far this year. 

In many incidents Israeli forces used lethal force in a manner that appeared to be in violation of international human rights law, Bachelet added.

The High Commissioner has called for prompt, independent, impartial, thorough, and transparent investigations into all incidents where any Palestinian was killed or injured.

She censured the “almost total lack of accountability” and “disproportionate use of force,” saying “this climate of impunity, along with the long-standing violations, drives the cycle of violence and the recurrence of violations.”

“The situation in Palestine is extremely fragile, and events such as in Nablus risk igniting further hostilities in Gaza. The utmost restraint is necessary to prevent further bloodshed, including by ensuring that firearms are used strictly in compliance with international standards,” the High Commissioner added.

Her comments come just days after the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories said Israeli air raids on the besieged Gaza Strip “not only are illegal but irresponsible”.

Francesca Albanez told Al Jazeera “the situation in Gaza is on the verge of a humanitarian crisis, the only way to secure the wellness of Palestinians wherever they are is to lift the siege and allow aid to enter.”

“I believe lack of accountability strengthens Israel,” he added, “I see ending occupation as the solution.”

The call has however fallen on death ears with the United States and Europe displaying what many experts have described as disgusting double standards towards a child-killing regime. 

These are the names and ages of the Palestinian kids which Israel murdered following its attack on the Gaza Strip from 5th to 7th August, as has been widely documented by organizations, rights groups, and the media.

Alaa Qaddoum was among the first casualties following Israel's unprovoked decision to launch air raids on the besieged Gaza Strip. She died on 5 August while she was playing with friends outside her home in the Shujaiya neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip. Her seven-year-old brother and father were injured in the strike.

Momen al-Nairab, five, was killed in an Israeli attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. The camp is one of the most densely populated places on Earth and houses more than 114,000 people.

According to documentation collected by Defence for Children International, Hazem Salem, nine, was among the four children in an explosion in the Jabalia refugee camp.

Ahmed al-Nairab, 11, was among the four children killed when Israeli warplanes are believed to have struck the Jabalia refugee camp.

Ahmed al-Farram, 16, was also killed when suspected Israeli warplanes struck the Jabalia refugee camp. According to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), the camp suffers from high unemployment, regular electricity cuts, and a contaminated water supply.

Fatma Ubaid, 15, was among nine children killed in the space of 30 minutes, shortly before the ceasefire was announced. Ubaid was killed in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

An Israeli air strike on the Bureij refugee camp killed Yasser al-Nabahin and his three children, Muhammed al-Nabahin, 13; Ahmed al-Nabahin, nine; and their sister, Dalia al-Nabahin, 13.

Muhammed Hassouna, 14, was killed when an Israeli air strike targeted his home in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Adeeb Ahmad, an eyewitness to the attack, told the media that at least eight people were killed in the raid. "The house was hit without any prior notice," Ahmad said. "Homes are overcrowded here, housing seven to eight people each, and they are so close to each other, so when one house is hit several houses around it are impacted."

A suspected Israeli air strike on the Falluja cemetery in northern Gaza killed five boys as they sat near a grave. Muhammed Nijm, 16, was among those killed.

Hamed Nijm, 16, was among those killed in the regime’s raid on a graveyard. Eyewitness Mohammad Sami told the media that four of the boys were cousins and the fifth was their friend.

Jamil Nijm was the youngest child to be killed during Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip. He was only four years old.

Jamil Ihab Nijm, 13, was the fourth child from the Nijm family to be killed in the suspected air strike.

Nazmi Abukarsh, 16, a friend of the Nijm boys, was killed in what is believed to have been an Israeli air strike on the graveyard.

Hanin Abuqaida, ten, was injured in an air strike on the Jabalia refugee camp on Sunday but succumbed to her wounds on Monday. She was ten years old.

Layan al-Shaer died on 11 August after succumbing to her wounds. The ten-year-old from Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, was transferred to hospital on 9 August as her medical condition worsened due to an injury to the head sustained in the ruthless Israeli bombing campaign.