A UN commission of inquiry has issued a damning report accusing Israel of carrying out a deliberate strategy to kill Palestinian children in Gaza, thereby committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The report alleges that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, and that the killings continued even after the last October ceasefire in Gaza.
The commission states that it has reasonable grounds to conclude that these acts form part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of the Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children.
Israel’s foreign ministry has strongly rejected the findings, describing the report as a libellous sham and propaganda. It claims the commission is designed to vilify Israel and lacks credible verification mechanisms.
Since the 7 October 2023 Hamas‑led attack on southern Israel, Israel launched a large‑scale campaign in Gaza to defeat Hamas and other armed groups and secure the release of hostages. According to the Hamas‑run health ministry, at least 73,035 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, including more than 21,280 children.
The independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, has previously investigated alleged violations of international law.
The new report documents how Israeli forces have targeted Palestinian children directly by shooting their vital organs with precision weapons such as quadcopter drones and snipers, and by using high‑impact weapons on residential buildings, schools and displacement camps crowded with children.
Israel also failed to protect Palestinian children from being targeted by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank. The report highlights that children, especially adolescent boys, have been arrested, tortured, and ill‑treated in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, and notes incidents of sexual and gender‑based violence during arrests.
Attacks on neonatal and paediatric hospitals in Gaza have systematically dismantled access to life‑sustaining care, undermining children’s survival as a protected group. The commission also accused Israel of using starvation as a method of war, warning that restrictions on humanitarian aid have led to acute and chronic malnutrition among children in Gaza.
Through attacks on schools, mass displacement and enforced closures, Israeli authorities have reportedly disrupted children’s ability to learn, sabotaging the intellectual and social foundations of Palestinian society.
Israel maintains that it operates within international law, taking all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians, and that its military operations are lawful self‑defence to defeat Hamas and secure hostages.
