GENEVA — An independent United Nations commission said on Tuesday that Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, as well as war crimes in the occupied West Bank. The findings come from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which examined violations against Palestinian children since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023. Around 30% of those killed in the Gaza war were children, according to the report. Israel rejected the findings within hours, calling the document a “libelous sham.”
The commission found that Palestinian children were killed not only during active combat but also after a ceasefire took effect in October 2025. More than 100 children were killed in Gaza between October 2025 and mid-January 2026 alone, according to the report. Investigators said this pattern of continued killing during a declared truce was a key element in establishing genocidal intent.
The three-member panel, which does not speak on behalf of the UN itself, first concluded in a September 2025 report that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. That earlier finding accused top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of inciting the acts. Israel called those accusations scandalous at the time. Tuesday’s report extends and reinforces that determination by focusing specifically on harm to children.
“By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future,” said Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar, the Indian judge who chairs the commission. He told Arab News the panel uncovered a consistent pattern in its investigation. “We are finding a whole trend where children are specifically being targeted by the Israeli forces,” he said.
The commission documented specific incidents to support its conclusions. It investigated the killing of two brothers, aged 9 and 10, who were struck by a drone while gathering firewood near Khan Younis in late November, concluding they could not plausibly have posed a threat from the distance described by Israeli soldiers. Investigators also reconstructed the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab and six members of her family in Tal Al-Hawa in January 2024, when their vehicle came under Israeli fire, along with the subsequent shelling of a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance sent to assist them. The report attributed that ambulance strike to the Israeli military’s 401st Brigade.
Investigators also documented dozens of cases involving children shot by snipers or quadcopter drones. The pattern and location of the wounds, many to the head or upper body, indicated deliberate targeting rather than incidental harm, the commission concluded.
The report listed specific Israeli divisions, brigades and units it said may bear responsibility for child deaths in named incidents in Gaza and the West Bank. The commission also found a sharp rise in violence committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Israel’s mission in Geneva issued a formal rejection of the findings on Tuesday. “Israel dismisses this libelous sham,” the mission said in a statement, describing the document as the commission’s “second defamatory advocacy report.” The statement added that “every child deserves protection” and said the report ignored “the brutal tactics of Hamas,” which the mission said regularly operates from within dense civilian areas.
In its rebuttal, Israel’s mission said the country “consistently strives to minimize harm to children even in situations of conflict” and rejected the suggestion that it deliberately targets children “in the strongest terms.” The mission also said the report failed to mention Israel’s role in facilitating vaccinations, the entry of medical staff and the establishment of field hospitals. It accused Hamas of systematically diverting humanitarian aid and fuel intended for hospitals.
The commission said conditions imposed by Israel in Gaza, including widespread attacks, repeated displacement and starvation caused by restrictions on aid, food and medicine, severely harmed children’s health and development, resulting in preventable deaths and trauma. It also found that attacks on healthcare and reproductive facilities affected the survival of newborns and were linked to reported increases in miscarriages. Nearly all children in Gaza were reported to require psychological support, the report found.
For the wider region, the findings add formal weight to international scrutiny of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank, coming as separate UN bodies continue to track casualties under the ceasefire. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva on June 19 that at least 265 Palestinian children had been killed in Gaza since the truce was announced in October 2025, an average of one child a day for more than eight months. “These children were not killed in a warzone; they were killed in their homes,” Elder said, adding that more than 90% of those deaths were attributed to Israeli forces. Elder also pointed to Lebanon, where UNICEF says 247 children have been killed and 992 injured since hostilities escalated there on March 2.
The commission’s report is the second in nine months to formally accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza. Palestinian health authorities said this month that the war has killed more than 73,000 people and wounded over 173,000 since October 7, 2023. The commission urged all UN member states, including Israel, to ensure accountability for the crimes documented in the report.
The inquiry does not have enforcement power and cannot impose sanctions or prosecute individuals. Its findings are expected to be referred to UN member states and relevant international bodies for further action, following the pattern set after the commission’s September 2025 genocide determination. The commission said it will continue monitoring violations against Palestinian children in both Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has not indicated any change to its military operations or aid policies in response to the report. No timeline has been given for further UN Security Council or General Assembly action on the findings.
