UN inquiry says Israel’s deliberate killing of Gaza children amounts to genocide

A United Nations commission of inquiry states that Israel continues to deliberately target and kill Palestinian children, amounting to genocide in the besieged Gaza Strip and war crimes in the occupied West Bank.

In a report published on Tuesday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East al-Quds and the 1948 territories under Israeli occupation, examined Israeli violations against Palestinian children since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the blockaded Gaza Strip in October 2023.

The report found that around 30 percent of those killed in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli aggression were children.

“Israeli authorities and forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, as well as war crimes in the West Bank,” the report stated.

“The deliberate targeting of children is one of the key elements establishing the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza,” it added.

Besides being killed or injured, Palestinian children have been arrested and subjected to torture in Israeli prisons and other severe forms of mistreatment, including sexual abuse.

“Israeli forces have also used sexual violence against children as part of the collective shaming and oppression, entrenched within a prolonged, ethnic, gendered, and intergenerational pattern of Israeli occupation and hostilities,” the report noted.

Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the commission, stated: “The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli forces.”

“Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law,” he added.

The report further noted that Israel’s targeting of neonatal and maternity care centers during its war on Gaza directly endangers Palestinians’ reproductive future and the survival of newborns, driving a rise in miscarriages, birth defects and lasting vulnerabilities.

It also found that Israel’s aid blockade in Gaza last year took a severe toll on Palestinian children, causing starvation-related deaths and a sharp rise in disease as immunization rates fell.

64,000 children killed or maimed in two years of ‘hellish’ war on Gaza: UNICEF

UNICEF has warned that two years of Israel’s “hellish” war on Gaza have devastated the children in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The UN commission said Israeli forces have destroyed orphanages and educational facilities in the occupied West Bank, severely harming Palestinian children’s cognitive, social and emotional development and care.

The commission identified Israeli military units responsible for attacking children and called on Israel to immediately cease its violence against Palestinian children.

Since Israel launched its war on Gaza, Palestinians across the occupied territory, including children, have faced a sharp surge in arrests and detention.

More than half of the Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons at the end of last year were being held without charge or trial, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) said in March.

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