The UN commission report released last month found that Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children in its ongoing campaign of genocide. It details and demonstrates Israel’s genocidal intent to destroy Palestinians, in whole or in part.
The report makes for sobering reading. It details the slaughter of more than 20,000 Palestinian children, and the wounding of 44,000 others, since Israel’s assault on Gaza began in October 2023. The findings present a damning indictment not just of Israel, but also of the global community that has actively enabled the destruction of a generation by failing to prevent genocide as mandated by international law, and to enforce the International Court of Justice’s set of provisional measures issued in early 2024.
The report is grounded in international children’s rights law, which was born in the aftermath of World War I, with the League of Nations adopting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924. The declaration recognises children’s vulnerability and imposes obligations on states and the international community to protect them in times of peace and war.
For children in Palestine, this promise was never kept - and the basic duty to protect them is breached daily.
