The upcoming inclusion of Israel on a UN list of countries and armed forces determined to be failing to protect children in war has prompted a furious Israeli response, AFP reports.

The annual “Children and Armed Conflict” report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not due to be published until June 18, but Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, spoke out after receiving private notification of the inclusion.

“I am utterly shocked and disgusted by this shameful decision,” Erdan said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on his X social media account that the UN “put itself today on history’s blacklist when it adopted the absurd claims of Hamas.

“The IDF is the most moral military in the world and no ‘flat earth’ decision by the UN secretary-general can change that,” he wrote, referring to the Israel Defence Forces.

Read more here.