UNITED NATIONS — On Sept. 16, leaders of an interfaith coalition of human rights advocacy organizations brought a portion of the Gaza Children’s Shroud to the U.N., hoping it would serve as a reminder that every child’s life is sacred.

The shroud, a 330-foot cloth inscribed with the handwritten names of more than 20,000 children killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, has traveled all over the world since its 2025 debut in Italy.

“These are our children. It doesn’t matter where they’re from,” said Imam Saffet Catovic, director of the U.N. operations for Justice for All, a faith-based human rights organization. “If children are hurt, they’re our children — we need to care for them.

“So, all of us involved in the process of inscribing the names, saying the names, praying on them need to remember that.”

Along with Justice for All, other advocacy organizations that participated in displaying the shroud at the U.N. include Priests Against Genocide USA and Doctors Against Genocide. They did so as world leaders gathered at the U.N. for its annual meetings.

“We all mourn the dead children, and we all have responsibility by our faith,” said Martha Miller, a member of Doctors Against Genocide. “The foundation and the core of love is to act that love out, which means speaking up for these children.”

The section of the Gaza Children’s Shroud brought to the U.N. bears the names of more than 6,000 children.

Organizers said they plan to assemble all portions of the shroud in Washington, D.C., sometime in October.

With more than 20,000 names in total, they said, the completed shroud will stretch more than 100 yards — the length of a football field.

Father Timothy Taugher, a member of Priests Against Genocide, said he brought a portion of the shroud to his parish, St. Francis of Assisi in Binghamton, New York, adding that his parishioners were moved by its presence, having not fully grasped the war’s scale. “Just to be around all these names — and they’re deceased boys and girls — what comes to my mind is the text from Matthew: ‘Whatever you’ve done to the least of these you’ve done to me,’ ” Father Taugher said. “I mean, these are the least of our humanity. Look what we have done to Jesus.”