UN Inquiry Says Israel Deliberately Targeted Palestinian Children in Gaza

A new UN Commission report details more than 20,000 children killed, tens of thousands injured, attacks on hospitals and schools, and evidence that Palestinian children were treated not as collateral damage, but as targets.

By Jordan Atwood, Nation of Change

A United Nations inquiry has accused Israeli authorities and security forces of deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, finding that the killing, maiming, starvation, displacement, detention, and deprivation of children formed part of a pattern that furthered Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.

The report, released by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, examined Israeli violations and crimes against Palestinian children from October 7, 2023, through March 31, 2026. Its findings reach far beyond casualty figures. The Commission concluded that Palestinian children were not simply caught in the devastation of Israel’s military campaign, but were repeatedly placed at the center of Israeli violence, military policy, deprivation, and dehumanizing rhetoric.

“The deliberate targeting of children is one of the key elements establishing genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza,” the commission said.

Between the start of Israel’s military campaign in October 2023 and the October 2025 ceasefire agreement, the report found that more than 20,000 children were killed in Gaza and more than 44,000 were injured. Children accounted for about 30 percent of those killed and 26 percent of those injured. More than 5,000 of the children killed were under the age of five, more than 1,000 were under the age of one, and more than 400 were newborn babies.