A UN commission of inquiry has accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children as part of its war on Gaza, concluding that Israeli actions amount to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel said 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.”
The commission said it had reasonable grounds to conclude that Israel’s actions formed part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children.
It also said Israeli forces had committed war crimes against Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 73,035 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023, including more than 21,280 children. The UN regards the ministry’s casualty figures as reliable.
The report said Palestinian children have been directly targeted by Israeli forces using precision weapons, including quadcopter drones and snipers, with shots aimed at vital organs.
It also accused Israel of using high-impact weapons in attacks on residential buildings, schools and displacement camps crowded with children.
The commission said Israeli attacks on neonatal and paediatric hospitals in Gaza had systematically dismantled children’s access to life-saving medical care.
It also accused Israel of using starvation as a method of war, saying restrictions on humanitarian aid had caused acute and chronic malnutrition among children and removed the basic conditions needed for their survival.
The report further said Israel had systematically disrupted Palestinian children’s education through attacks on schools, mass displacement and enforced closures.
It said these actions had undermined the intellectual and social foundations of Palestinian society.
The commission also documented the arrest, torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, particularly adolescent boys.
It said incidents of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian children had also been documented, often during arrests or detention.
In the occupied West Bank, the commission said Israel was legally responsible for failing to protect Palestinian children from attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
Srinivasan Muralidhar, the chair of the commission, said Palestinian children continued to be killed and seriously injured even after the October 2025 ceasefire.
“By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future,” he said.
The report follows previous findings by the commission accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. Last September, it said there were reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five acts defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention had been committed by Israeli authorities and security forces.
Israel has rejected the latest report, calling it a “libellous sham” and a “propaganda piece.”
The Israeli foreign ministry said the commission was a “fundamentally flawed mechanism” designed to vilify Israel.
South Africa’s genocide case against Israel is currently being heard at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which Israel has rejected as unfounded and biased and false claims.
