By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist
A United Nations commission of inquiry has concluded, with what it describes as reasonable grounds, that Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza in acts constituting genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes — a finding that places the ongoing conflict within one of the gravest moral and legal frameworks humanity has constructed. The commission documents the deaths of more than 21,280 children since October 2023, alongside allegations of starvation, detention, torture, and the systematic dismantling of the conditions necessary for a people's future. Israel has forcefully rejected the findings as propaganda, insisting its operations are lawful acts of self-defense in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack. The question of accountability now moves, slowly, toward international courts — while the dying, the commission notes, has not stopped.
- A three-member UN expert panel has formally accused Israel of genocide against Palestinian children, citing precision drone strikes, hospital destruction, and deliberate starvation as instruments of a systematic campaign.
- More than 21,280 children have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, and the commission reports that killings continued after a ceasefire took effect — 265 children dead since October 2025 alone.
- Israel's foreign ministry dismissed the report as a 'libellous sham,' arguing the commission ignores Hamas's use of children as human shields and the 1,200 Israelis killed on October 7, 2023.
- The commission's chair warned that by targeting children, Israel is attacking the Palestinian people's very capacity to exist — framing the violence not merely as warfare but as an assault on collective futurity.
- A parallel genocide case brought by South Africa is before the International Court of Justice, but a ruling remains years away, leaving the legal reckoning suspended while the humanitarian crisis deepens.
A United Nations commission of inquiry released findings this week concluding that Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza in ways that constitute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The three-member expert panel said it has reasonable grounds to believe Israeli forces have carried out acts inflicting death and severe harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children — and that these killings continued even after a ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
Israel's foreign ministry rejected the report immediately as a 'libellous sham' and propaganda, arguing the commission is designed to single out Israel rather than seek truth. Officials pointed to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, in which roughly 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage, and accused the commission of ignoring Hamas's use of Palestinian children as human shields. Israel maintains its military operations have been conducted lawfully in self-defense.
The documented toll is stark. At least 73,035 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, including more than 21,280 children. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, over 1,020 Palestinians have been killed, among them 265 children. Commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar described the 'intense scale and systematic nature' of Israeli operations as producing unprecedented death and trauma among Palestinian children.
The report details specific methods: precision drone and sniper fire aimed at children's vital organs, high-impact strikes on schools and displacement camps, systematic attacks on neonatal and pediatric hospitals, and the use of starvation as a method of war through restrictions on humanitarian aid. The commission also documented the arrest, torture, and sexual abuse of children in Israeli detention facilities.
Muralidhar framed the findings in terms of collective survival: 'By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future.' This is not the commission's first genocide accusation — last September it reached similar conclusions, which Israel also rejected.
A separate genocide case brought by South Africa is before the International Court of Justice, though a ruling could take years. Meanwhile, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, and the legal and political dispute over the conduct of the war shows no sign of resolution.
A United Nations commission of inquiry released findings this week concluding that Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children in Gaza in ways that constitute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The three-member expert panel, established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021, says it has reasonable grounds to believe Israeli authorities and security forces have "deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children." The commission further alleges that these killings continued even after a ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
Israel's foreign ministry rejected the report immediately, calling it a "libellous sham" and "a propaganda piece." Officials argued the commission is fundamentally flawed and designed to single out Israel rather than seek truth. They pointed to Israeli children killed and kidnapped in the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel—in which roughly 1,200 people died and 251 were taken hostage—and accused the commission of ignoring Hamas's use of Palestinian children as human shields. Israel maintains its military operations in Gaza have been conducted lawfully in self-defense and to secure the release of hostages.
The scale of the documented toll is stark. At least 73,035 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 2023, including more than 21,280 children, according to Gaza's health ministry—figures the UN considers reliable. Since the October 2025 ceasefire, Gaza's health ministry reports more than 1,020 Palestinians have been killed, among them 265 children, while Israel says four of its soldiers have died. The commission's chair, Indian jurist Srinivasan Muralidhar, stated that the "intense scale and systematic nature" of Israeli military operations has continued, resulting in "unprecedented death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children."
The commission's report details specific methods of targeting. It alleges Israeli forces have shot at children's vital organs using precision weapons including quadcopter drones and snipers, and deployed high-impact weapons in strikes on residential buildings, schools, and displacement camps where children were concentrated. The panel also found that Israeli attacks on neonatal and pediatric hospitals in Gaza have "systematically dismantled children's access to life-sustaining care." Beyond direct military action, the report accuses Israel of using starvation as a method of war, with restrictions on humanitarian aid producing acute and chronic malnutrition among Gaza's children.
The commission documented additional allegations of abuse in detention. Children in Gaza and the West Bank, particularly adolescent boys, have been "arrested, tortured, and ill-treated in Israeli prisons and detention facilities," the report states. It also records "incidents of sexual and gender-based violence targeting Palestinian children, often during arrests or in detention." Through attacks on schools, mass displacement, and enforced closures, the commission alleges Israeli authorities have "systematically disrupted children's ability to learn, thereby sabotaging the intellectual and social foundations of Palestinian society itself."
Muralidhar framed the findings in terms of collective survival. "By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future," he said. The commission concluded that the pattern of acts "form part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of the Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children."
This is not the commission's first genocide accusation. Last September, it concluded there were reasonable grounds to believe four of the five acts of genocide defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention had been carried out by Israeli authorities and security forces. Israel rejected that report as distorted and false. The commission has also previously found that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes on October 7, 2023, and that Israeli security forces have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
The commission does not officially speak for the United Nations. A separate case is currently before the International Court of Justice, brought by South Africa, which also accuses Israeli forces of genocide. Israel has called that case "wholly unfounded" and based on "biased and false claims." A ruling in that case could take years. Meanwhile, both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeatedly violating the October 2025 ceasefire, and the commission's latest findings suggest the legal and political dispute over the conduct of the war will continue to intensify.
Citas Notables
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.— Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the UN commission of inquiry
Israel utterly rejects the commission's report, calling it a libellous sham and propaganda piece designed to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek truth.— Israeli foreign ministry
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What exactly does the commission mean when it says Israel has targeted children deliberately? Are they describing individual incidents or a pattern?
They're describing a pattern they say is systematic and intentional. The report details specific methods—snipers, drones, strikes on hospitals and schools—but frames these as part of what they call a deliberate strategy to destroy the Palestinians' future by targeting their children specifically.
Israel says it's defending itself and that Hamas uses children as shields. How does the commission address that?
The commission doesn't deny the October 7 attack happened or that Israeli children were killed. But it says those facts don't justify what it documents as the deliberate targeting of Palestinian children through precision weapons, starvation, detention, and attacks on hospitals. It's saying the scale and method suggest something beyond self-defense.
The ceasefire was supposed to stop this. Why are children still being killed eight months later?
Both sides accuse each other of violating the truce. The commission's point is that even after the ceasefire, the killings continued—265 children dead since October 2025—which it says shows a disregard for the agreement and for international law protecting children.
Does this commission's finding actually matter legally? Israel rejected it immediately.
The commission doesn't speak for the UN officially, so it's not binding. But it adds weight to the genocide case South Africa brought before the International Court of Justice. That case could take years to resolve, but these findings become part of the record.
What's the human reality here? What does targeting children through starvation actually look like?
The report says restrictions on humanitarian aid have produced acute and chronic malnutrition among children in Gaza. It's not a single act—it's a condition created by policy. Children are slowly weakened, unable to learn, unable to develop. That's what the commission means by attacking the capacity of Palestinians to exist.