The UN's top investigative body on Palestine and Israel has concluded that Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children, committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, as well as additional war crimes in the occupied West Bank.
An 88-page report on Tuesday documents the killing of at least 20,179 children and wounding of 44,143 others in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 7 October 2025. Children represented 30 percent of those killed and 26 percent of those injured in that period.
"The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces," said Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel.
"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."
Citing the Genocide Convention, the report concluded that the deliberate targeting of children is among the elements establishing Israel's genocidal intent to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.
