A United Nations inquiry has concluded that Israeli forces deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children, calling it a central plank of an ongoing genocide in Gaza.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry published the finding on 23 June 2026, in a report covering events from 7 October 2023 to 31 March 2026.
Investigators say at least 20,179 children were killed and 44,143 injured during that period, with deaths continuing after the October 2025 ceasefire. Israel has rejected the report as a 'libelous sham' and denies that it targets children.
The Central Finding Of Deliberate Targeting
In its official statement announcing the report, the Commission said 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 occupied West Bank. The body said this targeting is one of the key elements establishing genocidal intent to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part.
'The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,' said Srinivasan Muralidhar, the chair of the Commission. He added that children continued to be killed and seriously injured even after the October 2025 ceasefire, which he described as a continued disregard by Israel for the protection owed to children under international law.
The full report carries the title 'The essence of childhood has been destroyed' and runs to more than 90 pages. It states that the proportion of children among those killed in Gaza, roughly 30%, ran higher than in earlier rounds of fighting.
Investigators concluded that the repeated use of high-payload munitions and wide-area weapons in dense residential neighbourhoods, despite mounting child casualties, pointed to intentional conduct.
Testimony, Starvation And Attacks On Newborn Care
At a press conference in Geneva, Commissioner Chris Sidoti recounted a case from the evidence in which a 14-year-old boy was shot by an Israeli military patrol as he left his house, at a moment when no fighting was taking place. According to the UN's own account of the briefing, Sidoti said the boy lay badly injured and surrounded by soldiers for around 45 minutes while he bled to death. He told reporters that every international legal norm had been violated in the treatment of Palestinian children.
The report also examines harm that reaches beyond direct strikes. It says Israel's targeting of neonatal and maternity care facilities damaged the survival of newborns and Palestinians' reproductive future, contributing to rises in miscarriages and birth defects.
The Commission links a blockade and siege to starvation deaths among children, reduced immunisation and the spread of disease, alongside the destruction of orphanages and schools across Gaza and the West Bank.
Investigators further allege that Palestinian children were arrested and subjected to torture and other mistreatment in Israeli detention, and that sexual and gender-based violence was used against them. The Commission frames the psychological toll as an intergenerational condition, describing an 'occupied psyche' in which the freedom to play, imagine and form an identity has been eroded. 'Even if the bombs and guns fall silent,' Muralidhar said, 'Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight.'
Israel's Rejection And The Question Of Accountability
Israel dismissed the findings without qualification. In a statement issued through its mission in Geneva, it called the report a 'second defamatory advocacy report' and said: 'Israel dismisses this libelous sham.' The mission said that every child deserves protection, accused the Commission of ignoring the brutal tactics of Hamas, and rejected the suggestion that it deliberately targets children in the strongest terms.
Israeli forces have killed over 20,000 children & injured 44,000 more since 7 Oct. 2023, Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the @UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory & Israel, told reporters today. #HRC62
— UN Human Rights Council Investigative Bodies (@uninvhrc) June 23, 2026
More on their new report ➡️ https://t.co/gK2KhtlgFb pic.twitter.com/ZQGUQkJKxD
Israel's rebuttal said its military consistently strives to minimise harm to children, and pointed to its facilitation of vaccinations, the entry of medical staff and the establishment of field hospitals. It accused Hamas of diverting humanitarian aid and fuel, a charge the group has consistently denied. On the West Bank findings, Israel said the Commission omitted the context of a constant terrorist threat. The report itself notes that the Commission sent 13 requests for information to the Government of Israel and received no response.
The Commission is an investigative body, so its conclusions are formal findings rather than a court ruling, and the allegations would still need to be tested before a competent tribunal. Investigators say they have identified specific military units responsible for killing and injuring children, and they have referred recommendations to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the UN Security Council and member states. The report also records that the Commission previously found Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and crimes against humanity on 7 October 2023, when 40 children were among those killed in Israel.
Whether these findings ever reach a courtroom now rests with the international institutions the Commission has called on to act.
