U.N. investigators say Israeli authorities committed genocide in Gaza and deliberately targeted Palestinian children. The commission's report finds killings and severe harm to children continued after an October cease-fire and documents widespread physical and psychological trauma, arrests and alleged torture, and the destruction of hospitals and schools. The three-member panel urges immediate international action to end hostilities and address long-term harm to children.
U.N. Inquiry Says Israel Deliberately Targeted Palestinian Children, Accuses Genocide
A Palestinian man carries the shrouded body of a child who was killed in an Israeli bombardment on March 18, 2025. Israel launched extensive aerial assault on Gaza, shattering the ceasefire and killing more than 400 Palestinians, including women and children. File Photo by Anas Deeb/UPI
A U.N. human rights commission released a report Tuesday concluding that Israeli authorities and military forces have committed genocide in the Gaza Strip and deliberately targeted Palestinian children.
The U.N. International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory — a three-person panel established in 2021 by the U.N. Human Rights Council — said its findings show these actions reflected intent and that killings and other harms continued even after an October cease-fire.
"The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces," Srinivasan Muralidhar, chairman of the commission, said in a statement. "Even after the October cease-fire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed Palestinian children under international law."
The report documents extensive and long-lasting damage to Gaza's children, including severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, family separation, disability, repeated displacement, starvation and the collapse of education and health services. It also alleges that children have been arrested and tortured in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.
Israelis protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Saturday. U.S. President Donald Trump has called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop the military strikes in Lebanon. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI
The commission warned that the widespread destruction of infrastructure — including orphanages, hospitals and schools — will have irreversible, long-term consequences for a generation of children.
"Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight," Muralidhar said. "The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible."
The report calls on the international community to press for an immediate end to hostilities and for measures to address the commission's findings, including steps to end the occupation of Gaza. The panel’s conclusions are likely to generate further diplomatic and legal debate.
According to the report, more than 73,035 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023 — the date Hamas launched its attacks on Israel — and more than 21,280 of those killed were children.
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