An independent United Nations commission investigating violations against Palestinian children has concluded that there is a clear pattern of conduct showing Israeli security forces directly targeted Palestinian children in different circumstances with the intention to kill them, and said the actions amounted to genocide.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, is chaired by former Orissa High Court Chief Justice S. Muralidhar. In a statement accompanying the report, Justice Muralidhar said: “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.”
The commission said that in all the cases it investigated where children were directly targeted, none of the children posed a threat to Israeli security forces. It added that medical professionals treated many children with gunshot wounds to the head and upper body, indicating they had been shot by snipers, drones or quadcopters.
According to the report, the number of documented cases demonstrated a consistent pattern of children being directly targeted by Israeli security forces, which the commission said constituted a key element in what it described as Israel’s genocidal intent to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza. The commission further concluded that the killing of Palestinian children, along with the serious bodily and mental harm inflicted on them, formed part of a strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian group in Gaza.
The report also alleged that Palestinian children have been arrested and subjected to torture and other severe forms of mistreatment in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, with families often receiving no information about their whereabouts. It further claimed that Israeli security forces used sexual violence against children as part of what it described as a broader pattern of collective humiliation and oppression linked to the long-running occupation and conflict.
The commission also argued that Israel’s targeting and destruction of neonatal and maternity healthcare infrastructure in Gaza has severely affected birth rates and infant health outcomes. It said the damage to reproductive healthcare and the reduction in reproductive capacity have caused grave, disproportionate and long-term harm to pregnant women, newborns and future generations.
Based on its investigations, the commission identified several divisions, brigades and units of the Israeli security forces that it said could be responsible for the killing and injury of Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank.
The report called for an end to the transfer of arms, military equipment and other items, including jet fuel, to Israel or third countries where there are grounds to believe they could be used in military operations involving genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or other violations of the Geneva Conventions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The commission also urged investigations into Israeli individuals and organisations suspected of participating in unlawful acts of violence against Palestinian children.
