Israel commits genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN commission finds

Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, an independent United Nations inquiry has found. The report by the UN independent international commission of inquiry examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war in Gaza, and said about 30 percent of the people killed by Israeli forces have been children.

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Israel dismisses this libellous sham

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel was set up in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It is composed of three independent experts and has a broad mandate to collect evidence and identify perpetrators of international crimes. The panel does not officially speak for the UN.

A previous report by the commission in September found Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, incited these acts. Netanyahu is separately wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. The Israeli mission in Geneva rejected what it called the commission’s “second defamatory advocacy report”.

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every child deserves protection

“Israel dismisses this libellous sham,” it said in a statement, adding that “every child deserves protection” and asserting that the report ignored “the brutal tactics of Hamas”. Israel has fought hard against allegations of genocide, while receiving critical diplomatic support from its allies, including the United States and the United Kingdom. A significant body of research by legal and rights experts has concluded that Israel is intent on destroying Palestinians, including analyses by UN investigators, rights bodies such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and genocide scholars worldwide.

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the brutal tactics of Hamas

The UN commission said in its report, released on Tuesday, that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted and killed during the war, including after a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025. It said this was a key element in establishing genocidal intent by Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza. “The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, the commission’s chair, in a statement accompanying the report. Israeli forces continued to use high-payload munitions and weapons with widespread effects in densely populated residential areas, despite mounting child casualties, the commission said.

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The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces