A damning report by the UN's Independent International Commission of Inquiry has concluded that Israeli forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza, accusing Israel of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes throughout the conflict.
The probe found that 30% of those killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began were children. The report states Israeli forces "deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children." It notes that Israel continued using high-payload munitions in densely populated areas despite mounting child casualties, indicating such attacks were intentional.
Systematic Dismantling of Healthcare
The commission concluded that Israeli attacks on Gaza's hospitals "systematically dismantled children's access to life-sustaining care, undermining their survival as a protected group." Chairman Srinivasan Muralidhar said: "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."
Muralidhar added: "The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible. By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future."
Israeli Response
Israel has rejected the findings, with its mission in Geneva calling it a "second defamatory advocacy report" and a "libelous sham." Israel asserts that Hamas embeds fighters and infrastructure in civilian areas, and that the report ignores Hamas's brutal tactics. The October 7, 2023 Hamas attack killed 1,195 people, including 36 children and 71 foreigners.
According to local authorities, Israel's retaliatory response has killed over 72,800 people. The commission also found that children in the West Bank and Gaza have been arrested, tortured, and ill-treated in Israeli prisons, with incidents of sexual and gender-based violence uncovered.
Ongoing Impact
The report states that physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation, and the collapse of education and healthcare have "erased childhood." The commission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 and examined alleged crimes affecting Palestinian children, including preventable mortality.
The report came a day after UNICEF said at least 265 children had been killed and hundreds wounded in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
