UN inquiry: Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children as part of genocide
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Tue, 06/23/2026 - 12:43
Report finds at least 20,179 children killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023, including after the ceasefire of October last year
A man carries a wounded Palestinian child in Nasser Medical Complex's trauma ward, Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 25 May 2026 (AFP/Bashar Taleb)
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The UN's top investigative body on Palestine and Israel has concluded that Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children, committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, as well as additional war crimes in the occupied West Bank.
An 88-page report on Tuesday documents the killing of at least 20,179 children and wounding of 44,143 others in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 7 October 2025. Children represented 30 percent of those killed and 26 percent of those injured in that period.
"The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces," said Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel.
"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."
Citing the Genocide Convention, the report concluded that the deliberate targeting of children is among the elements establishing Israel's genocidal intent to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.
The new report builds on the commission's finding last September that Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza.
Navi Pillay, who then chaired the commission, told MEE at the time that it was "the most authoritative finding emanating from the United Nations to date" regarding genocide in Gaza.
Exclusive: Navi Pillay on Israel's Gaza genocide and global complicity
Read More »
The report turns its focus specifically to children, examining physical injury, detention, reproductive violence and psychological trauma.
It describes a consistent pattern of children being shot with Israeli precision weapons, including by snipers and quadcopters.
Medical professionals documented single gunshot wounds to the head and upper body across hundreds of cases.
In April 2024, a 10-day-old baby boy was shot in the head by a quadcopter while being breastfed inside a tent in Nuseirat camp. In August 2024, a four-year-old girl was shot in the head by a quadcopter while eating with her family in Khan Younis.
Seventeen medical practitioners who worked in Gaza told the commission they observed a consistent pattern of children arriving with single gunshot wounds from snipers or quadcopters concentrated in the head and upper body.
One doctor said Israeli soldiers appeared to be "deliberately shooting teenage boys in a game of target practice".
The commission identifies specific Israeli military units responsible for killings, including the Kfir Brigade, the 162nd Division, the 98th and 99th Divisions, and a specialist drone unit known as the Refaim or Ghost Unit.
Killings during ceasefire
The killings by the Israeli army have continued after the October 2025 ceasefire, which was supposed to bring an end to violence but has instead been consistently violated by Israel.
For example, on 29 November, two brothers aged nine and 10 were shot dead by an Israeli drone near Bani Suheila in southern Gaza while gathering firewood.
Israeli forces described them as "suspects" crossing the so-called yellow line. The commission found that claim baseless.
The boys were more than 300 metres from Israeli soldiers, were visibly children collecting wood, and the drone operator would have had a clear view of them.
In addition to direct targeting, the report documents the destruction of Palestinian childhood across every dimension.
'Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight'
- Srinivasan Muralidhar, UN commissioner
Of Gaza's 564 school buildings, 459 were directly hit by October 2025. Children in Gaza have missed three full school years. Over 668,000 school-age children were denied access to formal education.
As of January 2026, more than 335,000 children under five were at risk of severe developmental delays due to the collapse of early childhood services.
Furthermore, attacks on neonatal infrastructure directly caused preventable deaths among newborns.
Before October 2023, Gaza had 178 incubators across eight neonatal intensive care units. By November 2024 that number had fallen to 54.
Miscarriage rates increased by up to 300 percent. By March 2026, 70 percent of newborns were classified as premature or underweight.
The commission also found that Palestinian children detained by Israeli forces were subjected to torture, sexual violence, forced public nudity, stress positions, and denial of food, water and medical care.
A 17-year-old boy from Ramallah died in Megiddo Prison on 22 March 2025 from severe prolonged malnutrition. His body was withheld from his family for months.
“It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two.”
Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University, Omer Bartov, described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an act of annihilation of the Palestinian people. pic.twitter.com/blxePXgSsf
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) December 20, 2024
The commission found his death amounts to wilful killing as a war crime.
"Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight," Muralidhar said. "The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible."
The commission called on Israel to immediately halt military operations, release detained children, return withheld bodies and end the siege.
It urged member states to cease arms transfers to Israel and impose targeted sanctions, and called on the International Criminal Court to prioritise crimes against children in the ongoing Palestine investigation.
Israel did not respond to the commission's 13 requests for information or access.
Israel's genocide in Gaza
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