UN inquiry accuses Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza
The Facts
- A report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel was released Tuesday.
- The commission said Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children.
- The commission said those acts resulted in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the occupied West Bank.
- The report examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
- The report said about 30% of those killed in the Gaza war were children.
- The commission linked the alleged targeting of children to its assessment of genocidal intent, saying attacks on children affect the future of the Palestinian community in Gaza.
- Israel rejected the report and its allegations.
- This was not the commission’s first such finding: multiple reports say it had previously concluded in a September 2025 report that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Context
What body issued the report?
The report was issued by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, an independent UN-mandated inquiry body Independent,Reuters.
What period did the inquiry examine?
According to multiple reports, the inquiry examined violations against Palestinian children from the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023 GEO TV,SCMP.
What remains unresolved after this report?
The commission’s findings are contested by Israel, which rejected the report, so the allegations do not settle legal responsibility on their own and are likely to remain part of broader international investigations and diplomatic disputes over the war BBC,ZEIT ONLINE.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- The report centers on alleged deliberate attacks on Palestinian children, treating that harm as central to the gravest legal findings now leveled against Israel.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about children being targeted as evidence of genocidal intent, or about testing the credibility and scrutiny due sweeping institutional accusations.
How left and right read it
What stands out here is the report’s focus on children: the commission said Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, and that about 30% of those killed in the Gaza war were children. That matters because the commission explicitly tied attacks on children to genocidal intent, arguing that harm to children strikes at the future of the Palestinian community in Gaza.
The key point is that a UN commission has now issued another report making the gravest possible legal findings against Israel, covering conduct since Oct. 7, 2023, and extending to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. That matters because repeated findings of this scale, paired with Israel’s rejection of the allegations, sharpen the stakes around institutional credibility and the need to scrutinize extraordinary claims carefully.
The receipts — all 91 sources
Wire services (4)
Independent coverage (50)
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