Commission alleges war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank; Israel rejects report as biased and based on flawed evidence; 'Demagoguery of modern blood libels,' Foreign Ministry saysA UN commission accused Israel on Tuesday of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory said the scale and systematic nature of Israeli military operations had caused unprecedented numbers of deaths, injuries and trauma among Palestinian children.GalleryIDF forces at Nasser Hospital in Gaza (Photo: IDF)“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said, adding that harm to minors in Gaza continued even after the October 2025 ceasefire.The commission, which last year said Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, said Israeli actions were undermining the Palestinian people’s ability to exercise their right to self-determination. It said that by harming children, Israel is “eroding the foundational structure of Palestinian society, weakening the demographic vitality and overall capacity of the Palestinian people to sustain and exercise its right to determine its future as a people.”The report said the deliberate targeting of children was a central element in establishing what the commission described as genocidal intent by Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.According to the report, thousands of children were killed or wounded during the fighting, while many others suffered severe physical and psychological injuries, repeated displacement, hunger, orphanhood and the collapse of education and health systems.The report cited specific cases in which the commission said children were deliberately fired on, including during civilian evacuations, in displacement camps and at food distribution sites. It also accused Israel of using starvation as a method of warfare and collective punishment, and said attacks on maternity centers and hospitals affected newborn survival and infant health.The commission also sharply criticized the treatment of Palestinian minors in Israeli detention facilities, alleging abuse, torture and sexual violence. It said the destruction of schools, orphanages and educational institutions in Gaza and East Jerusalem had deeply harmed the social and emotional development of Palestinian children.The report said the harm caused to children through killings, serious injuries, starvation, destruction of health and education systems and mass displacement was not incidental to the fighting, but part of a deliberate strategy.According to the commission, Palestinian children were attacked through sniper fire, drones and broad strikes on residential buildings, schools and displacement camps. The report named several Israeli military units it said were involved in cases in which children were harmed, including the Kfir Brigade, the 401st Armored Brigade, Shayetet 13, the Duvdevan unit and the Multidimensional Unit.The commission said that between Oct. 7, 2023, and Oct. 7, 2025, at least 20,179 children were killed in the Gaza Strip and 44,143 others were wounded as a direct result of the fighting. Children accounted for about 30% of all deaths and about 26% of all injuries during that period, it said.Among the children killed were at least 5,031 under the age of 5, including about 1,029 infants under 1 year old, according to the report. The commission said the proportion of children among the dead was significantly higher than in previous rounds of fighting in 2008-2009 and 2014.In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the commission said 213 Palestinian children were killed during the same period, the vast majority of them teenagers.The report said the commission examined several cases in depth, including the killing of 5-year-old Hind Rajab and members of her family, along with two paramedics in Gaza in January 2024; the killing of a 15-year-old boy who left his home carrying a white flag in Khan Younis; and the wounding of a 10-day-old baby while being breastfed inside a tent.Settlers and Palestinians clash in the West BankThe commission said more than 100 children were killed after the October 2025 ceasefire and the establishment of the “yellow line,” the boundary marking the area of Israeli military control in Gaza.The report cited cases including the killing of two brothers, ages 9 and 10, who were collecting firewood near Khan Younis in November 2025, and a 14-year-old boy killed that month in Far’a in the West Bank. The commission said soldiers prevented his evacuation for medical treatment for about 45 minutes while he lay wounded on the ground.The report also alleged widespread damage to children’s hospitals and maternity wards, including at Nasser and Rantisi hospitals, which the commission said contributed to the deaths of premature babies in neonatal units as early as November 2023. It said more than 97% of school buildings in Gaza were damaged or destroyed and that at least two orphanages were hit in airstrikes.The commission also described rising malnutrition, infant deaths from hypothermia and the return of polio to Gaza for the first time in 25 years.The report alleged harsh detention conditions for Palestinian children arrested in Gaza and the West Bank, including the case of a 17-year-old from Ramallah who died in Megiddo Prison in March 2025 after, according to an autopsy cited by the commission, suffering from severe malnutrition.It also documented what it said was a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinian children in the West Bank, including abductions and abuse, and alleged incidents of sexual violence by security forces against detained children and teenagers, which the commission described as a systematic pattern.Palestinian inmates in Israeli prison (Photo: Oz Moalem)Based on its findings, the commission said Israel and its security forces had committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and the West Bank, including willful killing, torture, persecution, enforced disappearance and gender-based sexual violence. It repeated its previous conclusion that acts against children form part of a pattern supporting its finding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.The findings come as the International Court of Justice in The Hague continues hearing South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.The commission called on Israel to immediately halt military operations in Gaza, withdraw to the 1967 lines, release detained minors, allow the free entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and investigate those responsible for harming children.It also called on countries to arrest and extradite Israeli officials subject to International Criminal Court arrest warrants, impose sanctions on Israeli officials, halt arms transfers to Israel and consider prosecuting Israelis under universal jurisdiction.The commission further recommended that the UN Security Council consider broad sanctions against Israel, including economic restrictions and a ban on defense trade, and expand international monitoring of harm to children during the conflict.The Foreign Ministry sharply rejected the report, saying the commission, which Israel does not recognize, is inherently biased against Israel and that its conclusions are based on flawed methodology, unreliable sources and anonymous testimony.Israel said the commission ignored Hamas’ use of children and civilians as human shields, as well as what it called severe violations committed by the terrorist organization during the war.The Foreign Ministry called the report “demagoguery of modern blood libels” and said it failed to meet accepted standards for a professional and independent international investigation. Israel said it was given only a few days to respond to the draft report and that many of its arguments were not properly examined by the commission.