UN Commission Says Israel Deliberately Killed Palestinian Children in Gaza, Committed Genocide

A UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in 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 the report described the period after Hamas’ invasion of Israel in late 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Al Jazeera

The UN commission said the war has “to date killed more than 70,000 Palestinians” and that “Israel has killed 20,000 children and injured 44,000 more since 7 October 2023,” while also warning that “Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured.”

The commission also said severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation, and the collapse of education and healthcare have “erased childhood” and will continue to affect children in Gaza throughout their lives, according to the UN News report.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry released its latest report on Tuesday, and the Independent reported that it said Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately and intentionally targeted Palestinian children, including after a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025.

Srinivasan Muralidhar told reporters, “This indicates that such attacks, which killed children in such high numbers, were intentional,” while the Independent said Israel called the accusations “defamatory” and “distorted.”

BBC

The Independent also quoted Israel’s mission in Geneva rejecting the commission’s “second defamatory advocacy report,” saying “Israel dismisses this libellous sham,” and adding that “every child deserves protection.”

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

The UN commission’s findings tied the deliberate targeting of children to a broader strategy, with UN News saying the report concluded that “Israel had committed genocide against the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip” and that the “intense scale and systematic nature” of Israeli military operations continued.

“A United Nations commission of inquiry has found Israeli security forces are committing the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip by deliberately targeting Palestinian children with deadly violence”

Democracy Now!

The commission said it found evidence of deliberate targeting and killing of children and described testimonies, including a case where a 14-year-old boy was shot by an Israeli military patrol as he was leaving his house and “was lying on the ground,” with the report describing a 45-minute period while soldiers were “chatting and probably some of them smoking.”

The commission also said it called for Israel to cease committing violations and crimes against and affecting Palestinian children, and WAFA reported that it further called for “the end of Israel’s continuing presence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” in compliance with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.

In addition to Gaza, the commission’s latest report said it found war crimes in the occupied West Bank, including a sharp increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian children and documented evidence of torture, including sexual and gender-based violence, during mass arrests and detention, according to the UN News report.