UN independent commission claims Israel deliberately targeted Gaza children, resulting in genocide

Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the West Bank, an independent UN inquiry says.

The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel examined alleged violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023, when the terror group launched its deadly attack on Israelis in southern Israel.

Around 30% of those killed in the Gaza war were children, the report found.

The report says it bases its claim of genocide on the fact that that Israeli forces continued to use high-payload munitions and weapons with wide-area effects in densely populated residential areas during the war, despite mounting child casualties. “This indicates that such attacks, which killed children in such high numbers, were intentional,” it says.

It says it believes children were targeted collectively because the Israeli security forces considered the civilian population as a whole to be associated with Hamas and other armed groups. Israel points to Hamas embedding its fighters and military infrastructure in homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

The panel does not speak on behalf of the UN, and has faced harsh Israeli criticism. While it is not a legal body, its reports can influence diplomatic pressure and serve to gather evidence for later use by courts.

“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” says Srinivasan Muralidhar, the commission’s chair, in a statement accompanying the report.

A previous report by the commission in September asserted that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that top Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu incited these acts, citing the IDF’s “pattern of conduct” as evidence of intent to “destroy Palestinians.” Israel called those allegations scandalous.

Today, Israel’s mission in Geneva says it rejects what it calls the commission’s “second defamatory advocacy report.”

“Israel dismisses this libelous sham,” it says in a statement, adding that “every child deserves protection” and asserting that the report ignored “the brutal tactics of Hamas,” which regularly operates from within dense civilian areas.

The inquiry also found that attacks on healthcare and reproductive facilities impacted the survival of newborns and reported increases in miscarriages, and that nearly all children in Gaza were reported to require psychological support.

Israel’s rebuttal says the report failed to mention Israel’s role in facilitating vaccinations and the entry of medical staff, and the establishment of field hospitals. It accuses Hamas of systematically diverting humanitarian aid and fuel for hospitals.