The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry announced that it has determined Israel deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children in Gaza, stating this constitutes genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Commission Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said, "The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces."
Children make up 30 percent of the war dead
According to the commission's report published on Tuesday, children constitute approximately 30 percent of those killed in Gaza since the war began in October 2023.
The report stated that Israel's targeting of neonatal and maternity care centers in Gaza directly endangered the reproductive future and survival of newborns among Palestinians, leading to an increase in miscarriages, birth defects, and permanent vulnerabilities.
Horrific conditions for children
The commission also determined that Israel's aid blockade imposed on Gaza last year had a severe impact on Palestinian children, causing starvation-related deaths and an increase in diseases due to declining vaccination rates.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), more than 50,000 children have been killed or injured by Israeli forces since the start of Israel's war on Gaza.
The agency noted that an average of one Palestinian child has been killed every day in Gaza since the so-called "ceasefire" came into effect last October.
Orphanages destroyed in the West Bank
The UN report stated that Israeli forces, in addition to Gaza, also destroyed orphanages and educational facilities in the occupied West Bank, affecting the cognitive, social, and emotional care and development of Palestinian children.
The commission said it has identified Israeli military units responsible for attacking children and called on Israel to stop its violence against Palestinian children.
Children detained and tortured
According to the report, in addition to being killed or injured, Palestinian children have been detained in Israeli prisons, subjected to torture, and other forms of severe mistreatment including sexual abuse.
Defence for Children International-Palestine (DCIP), a Palestinian rights organization, said in a statement in March that more than half of the Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons at the end of last year were detained without charge or trial.
Commission Chair Muralidhar said, "Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and the West Bank, Palestinian children will not recover overnight."
Muralidhar added, "The protection, care, and survival of Palestinian children is inseparable from the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination."
Israel's mission in Geneva rejected the document, which it called the commission's "second smear advocacy report." In a statement, Israel said "every child deserves protection" but that the report "ignores Hamas's brutal tactics."
