Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in “genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes†in Gaza, and “war crimes in the occupied West Bank,†a UN inquiry said on Tuesday.
The report by the “UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel†examined alleged violations against Palestinian children since the start of the Israel-Hamas War.
Around 30% of those killed in the Gaza war were children, the report alleges.
What is a child according to the commission?
The report defines a child as “every human being below the age of 18 years, consistent with Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
The commission, which has faced heavy Israeli criticism for bias against the Jewish state, does not represent the UN’s official position. However, the full report was shared on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)’s official website.
Israel calls commission reports ‘scandalous, defamatory’
At least until 2025, IDF officials told The Jerusalem Post that at least around 40% of those killed in Gaza were Hamas, which is not a historically poor percentage in wars. This is especially true, taking into account that Hamas systematically used human shields, with some areas like Rafah having boobytraps in nearly every home, and hospitals and schools regularly used as command centers.Â
A significant chunk of “children” killed have been Hamas fighters, ages 16 and 17 years old, wielding arms and posing an equal danger to IDF troops as Hamas operatives over the age of 18.
Israel has over 3,000 preliminary probes and over 100 criminal investigations into its own conduct, and due to the war continuing almost non-stop since October 7, it still has not had the capacity to put out its full narrative regarding various specific incidents, but likely will over the next year or years. Reports that make final judgments before knowing the Israeli side are premature.
Israel has admitted serious errors in the World Central Kitchen, Palestinian Red Crescent, Reuters journalists, and other cases, meaning that when Israel rejects other allegations, it should be viewed as credible.
“Genocide” does not apply when a military makes errors, only when it is proven that a military purposefully commits mass killings. Throughout the invasions of Gaza, the IDF always used several methods to try to evacuate (often successfully) the general civilian population from areas it was about to attack. These warnings often cost the IDF by allowing Hamas to escape among the masses of civilians who fled.
Other than in July-August 2025, when the IDF admitted an emergency in food insecurity, for most of the war, while food supplies were sometimes down in Gaza as compared to pre-war, there is no evidence that mass starvation ever took place, and even in summer 2025, a food surge by the IDF ultimately prevented any large-scale starvation. For significant portions of the war, the number of food trucks entering Gaza was even significantly higher than pre-war. Since fall 2025, food supplies to Gaza have been multiple times higher than before the war.
A previous report by the commission in September alleged that Israel had “committed genocide†in Gaza and that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts – accusations that Israel called scandalous.
Israel’s mission in Geneva said Israel rejected what it called the commission’s “second defamatory advocacy report.”
“Israel dismisses this libelous sham,” it said in a statement, adding that “every child deserves protection” and asserting that the report ignored “the brutal tactics of Hamas.”
The UN commission claimed that Palestinian children were “deliberately targeted and killed†during the war. It said this was a key element establishing “genocidal intent by Israeli authorities†and security forces to destroy the Palestinian terror 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.
The report claimed that the proportion of children killed was higher than in previous conflicts.
Israeli forces continued to use high-payload munitions and weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated residential areas despite mounting child casualties, the commission accused.
A rebuttal shared by Israel’s mission in Geneva said Israel “consistently strives to minimize harm to children even in situations of conflict” and that Israel rejected the suggestion it deliberately targets children “in the strongest terms.”
Muralidhar asserted that by allegedly targeting children, Israel was undermining the capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future.
Conditions imposed by Israel in Gaza, including displacement, and “starvation caused by the blockade of aid, food, and medicine,†severely harmed children's health and development, resulting in preventable deaths and trauma, the report claimed.
The inquiry also alleged that attacks on healthcare and reproductive facilities “impacted the survival of newborns and reported increases in miscarriages,†and that “nearly all children in Gaza†were reported to require “psychological support.â€
Israel’s rebuttal said the report failed to mention Israel’s role in facilitating vaccinations and the entry of medical staff, and the establishment of field hospitals. It said Hamas systematically diverts humanitarian aid and fuel for hospitals.
Commission claims sharp increase in settler violence in West Bank
In the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the commission claimed that there had been a sharp increase in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian children and documented evidence of torture, including sexual and gender-based violence, during mass arrests and detention.
It claimed Palestinian children, particularly boys, were subjected to systematic mistreatment in detention, including forced stripping, beatings, and food deprivation.
The commission claimed that the treatment constituted “crimes against humanity of torture and other inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury.â€
Israel rebutted this, saying that the report’s findings on the West Bank omitted context on the “constant terrorist threat” that it said Israeli security forces were responding to.
