Israeli Association for Early Childhood says lack of action by UN members to secure the release of some 40 children and babies held by terror groups adds to their suffering

The Israeli Association for Early Childhood launched a video campaign to spread awareness of the some 40 children and babies held hostage by terrorists in the Gaza Strip, as the global community marked World Children’s Day on Monday.

The association posted a clip of superhero toys, each draped in a flag of the United States, Germany, Argentina, and Japan, calling those nations to “wake up” and help “bring my hero home.”

Below them is a child draped in an Israeli flag, representing a young captive held inside one of the terrorists’ tunnels, with the caption “Bring our children home.”

“Wake up world! When your children dream of superheroes, our children were kidnapped to Gaza by Hamas-ISIS and dream of freedom and their basic rights!” a text on the video reads, likening the Palestinian terror group’s atrocities to those committed by Islamic State during its rampage across the Middle East almost a decade ago.

In a statement, the association said that Monday was a “day (of no) rights (and no) children” as the hostages were held in the enclave.

The organization noted Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, signed in 1989, which read that children must be protected by states “from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.”

The association called out what it alleged is the “silence” of United Nations members, charging that it constitutes “additional abuse” that “encourages future harm to children around the world, also to yours!”

The group urged the global community to act on its commitments to the convention, and “to demand the return of all the children home immediately!”

President Isaac Herzog on Monday met with families of the children abducted by Hamas at an event at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem

“Today is the UN’s International Children’s Day. A day designed to protect our children. Kidnapping children from their beds, kidnapping children in general [is] a barbaric act, a terrible act that violates all international codes. The enemy who kidnapped these children is trying to use them and the other abductees as a psychological tool, as a tool for extortion,” said Herzog in a statement.