Two Palestinian women in Gaza mourn their children who were killed in an Israeli airstrike. (Photo via X)
New Delhi: A UN independent commission of inquiry has concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank, describing the pattern as amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The findings, released on Monday, in Geneva, mark one of the most damning assessments yet of Israel’s conduct in the enclave since the war began.
The commission – “UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel” – chaired by Srinivasan Muralidhar, said the evidence showed a consistent, deliberate strategy rather than incidental harm to minors. Israeli forces have killed more than 20,000 children and injured a further 44,000 since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023, according to the report.
The commission noted that the violence did not abate even after the ceasefire took hold in October 2025, with children continuing to be killed and wounded in what it called continued disregard for the truce and for the legal protections owed to them.
Commissioner Chris Sidoti cited specific cases to illustrate the pattern, including that of a 14-year-old boy shot by an Israeli military patrol as he left his house at a time when no fighting was under way. According to Sidoti, the boy bled to death over 45 minutes while surrounded by soldiers who did not intervene. Such accounts, the commission argued, leave little room to interpret the deaths as collateral rather than deliberate.
Beyond the battlefield
The report extends well past direct killings, detailing torture, severe mistreatment and sexual violence against Palestinian children held in Israeli detention facilities, many of whom remain unaccounted for. It also documents strikes on neonatal and maternity units, which the commission said have harmed newborns and undermined the reproductive future of the Palestinian population. Blockade-induced starvation and the destruction of orphanages and schools have compounded the damage, disrupting the social and cognitive development that childhood is meant to provide.
Muralidhar, who is a highly respected former chief justice of the Odisha high court and judge in the Delhi high court, warned that the harm inflicted would not heal once hostilities ceased. “Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight,” he said, adding that the destruction of their health, education and development was irreversible.
The commission framed the targeting of children as an assault on the Palestinian people’s broader capacity for self-determination, arguing that eroding the youngest generation weakens the demographic and social foundation of any future Palestinian state.
Context and reactions
The inquiry builds on an earlier finding by the same commission last year that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a conclusion Israel has consistently rejected as a “distorted and false” and “a libelous sham” report driven by antisemitic bias. Israel does not recognize the UNHRC-appointed commission and has declined to cooperate with it, a position it has held since the panel’s establishment in 2021.
Independent of Israel’s objections, the commission’s earlier report had already found that the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog; the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu; the former Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant bore responsibility for incitement, based on public statements made in the early days of the war.
The commission has now called on Israel to end violations against children, withdraw from the occupied West Bank in line with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion, and cooperate with accountability mechanisms. It has also urged UN member states to act on their own legal obligations, including pressing for an end to the occupation and ensuring victims – children among them – have access to justice as part of any political settlement.
The report’s findings are likely to feed into ongoing proceedings at the International Court of Justice, where South Africa has brought a genocide case against Israel, and could inform any future action at the International Criminal Court, although the commission itself has no enforcement powers.
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