The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, has accused Israeli authorities and security forces of deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank, in what it says amounts to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes since 7 October 2023.
In a report titled “The essence of childhood has been destroyed,” the Commission presented its findings on the situation of Palestinian children to the UN Human Rights Council.
Between 7 October 2023 and 7 October 2025, the Commission reported at least 20,179 children killed and 44,143 injured as a direct result of hostilities in Gaza. These figures represent 30 percent of all fatalities and 26 percent of all injuries recorded in the region during that period.
The toll on the youngest residents is particularly severe, with the report documenting 5,031 fatalities among children under five years of age, including 1,029 infants under one year old and approximately 420 newborns. The Commission stated that these figures are likely undercounts, noting that an additional 5,160 children remained missing and are estimated by Save the Children (an international NGO) to be buried beneath rubble.
Report Claims Pattern of Attacks on Children
The Commission said that the deliberate targeting of children is one of the key elements it considers indicative of genocidal intent by Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.
According to the report, the Commission investigated a number of incidents in which children were reportedly shot while evacuating, sheltering in displacement camps, or present at aid distribution sites. It concluded that material it reviewed, including videos, photographs, medical records, witness testimony, and forensic analysis, indicates what it describes as a consistent pattern of children being deliberately targeted.
Among the cases examined was the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab and her family members in Gaza City on 29 January 2024. The Commission said that Israeli forces were present in the area and deliberately targeted the vehicle carrying the family despite being able to identify the presence of children. According to the report, investigators also found that a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance sent to rescue the child was shelled. The Commission stated that the bodies of Hind, six family members, and the charred remains of two paramedics were recovered 12 days later.
The report also documented another incident that the Commission said occurred in January 2024 in Khan Younis. According to the Commission, a 15-year-old boy holding a white cloth was fatally shot by nearby Israeli forces while evacuating under orders. The report further stated that when his 20-year-old brother attempted to reach him, he was also shot in the chest and killed. According to the Commission, their mother was wounded while signalling for help, and their father was repeatedly fired upon when attempting to recover the bodies. The report stated that the family eventually left the neighbourhood and only later learned that their sons’ remains had been retrieved, although their burial location remained unknown.
The Commission also cited additional cases, including one involving a 10-day-old baby who was allegedly shot in the head by a quadcopter while being breastfed inside a tent in Nuseirat camp, and another involving a four-year-old girl who was reportedly shot in the head while eating with her family inside a displacement tent in Khan Younis. According to the report, both children survived but sustained severe long-term injuries.
The Commission said it interviewed 17 medical professionals who reported a recurring pattern of children arriving at hospitals with single gunshot wounds to the head, neck, or upper body. According to the report, the doctors said these injuries were consistent with sniper fire or attacks carried out by armed quadcopters.
Explosive Weapons and Civilian Areas
The Commission said in its report that the high number of child casualties was linked to Israel’s extensive use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated residential areas, as well as what it described as an expansion of military targeting criteria without adequate precautions for civilians.
The report also highlighted the disproportionate impact of explosive weapons on children. Citing research into blast injuries, the Commission said that children are seven times more likely than adults to die in explosive attacks because of their physiological vulnerability.
The report pointed to several incidents that, according to the Commission, illustrated the consequences of these tactics. In one case, the Commission said that two Israeli airstrikes struck a residential home in Khan Younis on 23 May 2025, reportedly killing nine of ten children in a single family and their father. According to the report, the children’s mother survived along with one critically injured child.
The Commission further stated that child casualties continued even during periods intended to reduce violence. According to the report, following the collapse of a ceasefire in March 2025, at least 322 children were killed and 609 injured in less than two weeks.
Child Deaths Continue After Ceasefire
The report also raised concerns about killings that the Commission said occurred after the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.
According to the report, Israeli forces established a demarcation area known as the “yellow line” inside Gaza. It stated that a lack of clarity regarding the boundary meant that civilians, including children, were frequently unaware when they had crossed into restricted areas while returning home or gathering firewood, and were reportedly shot as a result.
The Commission examined the deaths of two brothers, aged 10 and nine, who it said were killed in a drone strike while collecting firewood for their wheelchair-bound father near Khan Younis in November 2025. According to the report, Israeli forces described the boys as “suspects,” a characterization the Commission rejected, saying it found no evidence that they posed any threat.
The report criticized what the Commission described as a pattern of impunity and stated that children killed in such incidents were frequently portrayed as “suspects” or “terrorists” rather than civilian victims.
Long-Term Injuries and Disabilities
Beyond fatalities, the report detailed what the Commission described as extensive life-altering injuries suffered by children. According to the report, investigators documented widespread cases of polytrauma, including brain injuries, spinal injuries, severe burns, organ damage, and multiple fractures.
One case examined by the Commission involved a five-year-old boy who was severely injured after Israeli soldiers allegedly threw grenades into a family home in Sheikh Radwan in December 2023. According to the report, the house was sheltering about 30 family members when soldiers entered the building and killed eight relatives, including the child’s parents. The Commission said the boy suffered severe abdominal injuries and was carried to a nearby school, where a doctor used improvised methods to stabilise him before he was transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital for surgery.
The report stated that the child was later evacuated from Gaza and had undergone eight operations by December 2025, with additional treatment still required. According to the Commission, he was left with a permanent disability in one leg and now relies on a wheelchair. Investigators also said in the report that the child and his younger brother continue to suffer psychological trauma after witnessing the deaths of their parents during the incident.
Healthcare workers told Commission investigators that many children had suffered severe vision and hearing loss. The report cited estimates indicating that approximately 10,000 children in Gaza were experiencing hearing loss by mid-2025, including 5,000 with severe impairment.
The Commission also highlighted the growing number of child amputees. According to the report, UNICEF reported that more than 1,000 children had undergone amputations during the first three months of the conflict.
The report highlighted that an estimated 90,000 children were living with disabilities in Gaza before October 2023. It cited CRPD estimates indicating that at least 21,000 children became newly disabled between 7 October 2023 and 3 September 2025, while around 40,500 children suffered “war-related injuries.
Commission’s Findings on Sexual Violence
The Commission’s report also highlighted what it described as a systematic pattern of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian children, which it classified as war crimes and crimes against humanity. According to the report, investigators documented instances of forced public nudity in which children were compelled to undress in front of family and community members, causing severe and long-term psychological distress, particularly for girls, and violating their rights to dignity and special protection under international law.
The report further detailed allegations of sexual assault, genital violence, and sexual threats against children in detention. The Commission concluded that these acts were not isolated incidents but were being used as a form of collective punishment intended to humiliate and subjugate the Palestinian population. The report emphasized that, because children are in critical stages of development, the resulting trauma is profound and generational. The Commission said that both individual perpetrators and Israeli authorities should be held accountable for what it described as serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Chair’s Statement
“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the Commission, in a release issued on June 23, 2026. “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”, he added.
The Commission of Inquiry said that severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacement, starvation, and the collapse of education and healthcare systems had erased childhood in Gaza and would continue to affect children throughout their lives.
According to the report, Palestinian children had been arrested and subjected to torture and other forms of severe mistreatment in detention facilities, with no information available in some cases on their whereabouts. It also said Israeli security forces had used sexual violence against children as part of a broader pattern of collective shaming and oppression linked to prolonged occupation and hostilities.
The Commission of Inquiry further said Israeli strikes on neonatal and maternity care centres had harmed newborn survival and reproductive health, including increases in miscarriages, birth defects and long-term vulnerabilities among newborns. It said starvation caused by blockade and siege conditions had contributed to child deaths and widespread malnutrition, while also increasing disease risks due to reduced immunisation and the breakdown of health services.
It said the destruction of orphanages and education facilities in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem had disrupted children’s cognitive, social and emotional development and weakened the foundations of Palestinian society.
“Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight,” said Muralidhar. “The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible.”
The Commission said Palestinian children had suffered severe psychological harm, describing it as intergenerational trauma that eroded their sense of safety, identity and future, and undermined the demographic and social foundations of Palestinian society and its capacity for self-determination.
“The protection, care and survival of Palestinian children are inseparable from the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” said Muralidhar. “By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future.”
The Commission said it had identified military units within Israeli security forces responsible for the killing and injury of Palestinian children and called for accountability measures, investigations and access to justice for victims. It also called for Israel to end alleged violations and comply with international legal obligations, including ending its presence in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in line with an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice.
Israel Rejects UN Commission of Inquiry Report
Israel has strongly rejected the latest report issued by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI), calling it a “propaganda piece” and accusing the body of bias against the country.
In a statement released by the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva, Israel said that every child deserves protection and a future free from terrorist incitement and martyrdom training camps. However, it argued that the Commission’s latest report was as “outrageous” as its previous findings.
The statement described the COI as a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth.
Israel further accused the Commission of concealing evidence of terrorist atrocities and ignoring the experiences of Israeli children who were killed, kidnapped, or targeted by Hamas. The statement also alleged that the report overlooked Hamas’ use of Palestinian children as human shields and pawns of war.
According to Israel, the Commission also lacks a credible verification mechanism for its claims. “Israel utterly rejects this latest libelous sham, as well as all of the COI’s other defamatory reports,” Israel said in the statement.
Note: Last updated on June 24.
