UN Commission Finds Israel Deliberately Targeted Palestinian Children In Gaza And West Bank

A UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel released a report on Tuesday saying Israel “deliberately” targeted Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel continues to deliberately target and kill Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and war crimes in the occupied West Bank”

Al Jazeera

The commission’s chair, Srinivasan Muralidhar, said the “evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” and it also concluded that the “intense scale and systematic nature of the Israeli military operations have continued,” causing “unprecedented death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children.”

Al Jazeera

The CBC report said the war was ignited after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that left 1,200 people dead and 200 hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

CBC also reported that Israel’s ensuing insurgency into Gaza has left more than 73,000 dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and that since a ceasefire began in October 2025, the ministry has noted that over 1,000 people have died from ongoing strikes and fighting, including 265 children.

Israel denies the allegations and says the Commission’s report is “propoganda meant to vilify the country,” while the UN report calls for Israel to cease committing violations and crimes against Palestinian children.

The BBC said the commission alleged that killings continued even after last October’s ceasefire in Gaza, and it quoted Muralidhar warning that “Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured.”

The BBC also reported that the commission said Israel targeted Palestinian children “by shooting at their vital organs using precision weapons, such as quadcopter drones and snipers,” and by using high-impact weapons in strikes on residential buildings, schools, and displacement camps crowded with children.

BBC

In CBC’s account of specific incidents, 13-year-old Jude Muhammad Dweik was playing soccer with his friends in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza when his family says a quadcopter drone dropped a bomb on the group on May 21, and CBC reported that Jude was killed and two of his friends were injured.

CBC quoted Talal Dweik saying, “Every day there's an attack on us,” after his grandson’s body was carried away to be prayed on and eventually buried.

CBC said it reached out to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for comment to verify both attacks but had not heard back, while the Israeli Foreign Ministry directed CBC to a social media statement that “utterly rejects” the UN report’s allegations.

The UN commission said it identified military units within the IDF that it claimed were responsible for killing and injuring Palestinian children and made recommendations to Israel and to all Member States of the UN Human Rights Council to ensure accountability for such crimes.

“A new report by theUnited Nations Human Rights Councilsays Israel "deliberately" targeted Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank”

CBC

In the BBC’s summary of the report’s legal claims, it said the commission alleged Israel was “legally responsible for failing to protect Palestinian children from being targeted by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.”

The UPI account said the commission called on the international community to push for an end to hostilities and for Israel to end its occupation of Gaza, while also stating that the report concluded Israel is continuing to commit genocide in the Gaza Strip and is deliberately targeting Palestinian children.

UPI added that the commission said children have sustained severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation, and the collapse of education and healthcare, and that children have also been arrested and tortured in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.

The UN News report said the commission’s latest findings included that “Israel has killed 20,000 children and injured 44,000 more since 7 October 2023,” and it described the commission’s conclusion that “Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight.”