New Delhi: A UN commission of inquiry has accused Israel of continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza through the deliberate targeting of children, saying that Palestinian minors have been “deliberately targeted and killed” and that such attacks are central to establishing genocidal intent.In a report released on Tuesday (June 23), the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said it had found “on reasonable grounds that the Israeli security forces have intentionally directed lethal force against children as such, in violation of the prohibitions on arbitrary deprivation of life and on targeting civilians under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and that these acts amount to war crime of wilful killing and the crime against humanity of extermination”.‘Children continue to be killed and seriously injured’“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said in a statement accompanying the report. Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, he said, children “continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law.”Rejecting the finding, Israel’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva described the report as “a propaganda piece as outrageous as its previous ones” and accused the commission of being “a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth.”The mission said the commission “completely erases Israeli children who were brutally murdered, kidnapped, and targeted by Hamas, while ignoring Hamas’ cynical use of Palestinian children as human shields and pawns of war.” It also claimed that the commission lacked “any credible verification mechanism for its claims.”The 94-page report, titled ‘The essence of childhood has been destroyed’, examines violations against Palestinian children between October 7, 2023 and March 31, 2026. It states that at least 20,179 children were killed and 44,143 injured in Gaza during the first two years of the war, accounting for nearly a third of all fatalities. The commission noted that the toll was likely higher, with thousands more children believed to remain buried beneath rubble.The inquiry said its investigation found a “clear pattern” that children had been intentionally targeted by Israeli forces and argued that such conduct was central to establishing genocidal intent.“The targeting of Palestinian children is central to establishing genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the larger Palestinian group in Gaza,” the report said. “Children are not just part of a population; their survival is central to the existence and continuity of the Palestinian group.”The commission added that “the killing of and serious bodily and mental harm inflicted upon Palestinian children was part of a strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian group in Gaza”. It reiterated its previous conclusion that Israel had committed genocide through “killing and causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, including Palestinian children.”At least 5,031 children under the age of five killedThe report builds on an earlier legal analysis issued by the commission last year, but places children at the centre of its investigation this time. It argued that the impact of Israeli military operations extends far beyond battlefield casualties and encompasses starvation, reproductive harm, disability, orphanhood, displacement, detention, and psychological trauma.According to the commission, Israeli military operations have left Gaza with unprecedented levels of child death and injury. At least 5,031 children under the age of five were killed between October 2023 and October 2025, including more than 1,000 infants and around 420 newborn babies. The report notes that children made up around 30% of those killed during the conflict, a proportion significantly higher than in previous Gaza wars.The commission also documented what it described as the direct targeting of children through sniper fire, drones and other weapons systems. It concluded that Israeli forces had “intentionally directed lethal force against children as such” and that these acts amounted to the war crime of wilful killing and the crime against humanity of extermination.Among the cases cited was the killing of two brothers, aged 10 and nine, who were gathering firewood near Khan Younis in November 2025. Israeli forces later described the boys as “suspects” who had approached troops. The commission rejected that explanation, saying the children were clearly identifiable as minors and posed no immediate threat. It said the case reflected a broader “systematic pattern” in which Palestinian boys were labelled as terrorists to justify their deaths.The inquiry also found that children continued to be killed after the October 2025 ceasefire. According to UNICEF figures cited in the report, more than 100 children were killed after the ceasefire came into effect. Investigators linked some of those deaths to a military demarcation zone known as the “yellow line”, where civilians, including children, were shot after crossing poorly marked boundaries.21,000 children acquired disabilitiesn of the report focuses on the long-term impact of Israeli military operations on children’s health and development.The commission said thousands of children suffered traumatic amputations, spinal injuries, blindness, hearing loss and severe burns. It cited estimates that more than 21,000 children had acquired disabilities during the conflict and noted that Gaza had become home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of child amputees.Investigators also examined attacks on hospitals and neonatal care facilities, arguing that the destruction of healthcare infrastructure, coupled with shortages of medicine, equipment and fuel, had severe consequences for children, including newborns requiring specialised care. The report additionally examines miscarriages, premature births, underweight infants and congenital defects as part of its analysis of reproductive violence and harm to newborns.The commission further accused Israel of imposing conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.“The conditions of life imposed by Israel on the Palestinian group in Gaza, including children, constitute a deliberate and systematic infliction of harm calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza as a group,” it said, citing the blockade, restrictions on humanitarian aid and destruction of civilian infrastructure.Another major section of the report deals with Palestinian children held in Israeli detention facilities.Investigators documented what they described as a pattern of severe mistreatment, including forced stripping, prolonged blindfolding, beatings, sleep deprivation, denial of food and water, inadequate medical treatment and detention alongside adults.Report highlights sexual and gender-based violence against children“The Commission identified a pattern of severe and deliberate mistreatment systematically inflicted upon Palestinian children,” the report states. It concludes that the conduct amounts to torture and other inhumane acts constituting both war crimes and crimes against humanity.The report also documents sexual and gender-based violence against children, including forced public nudity, sexual assault, genital violence and sexual threats.“The Commission notes that sexual violence against Palestinian children is a grave violation against children in armed conflict and so constitutes a war crime,” it says.In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, investigators found evidence of what they described as a pattern of unlawful killings, arbitrary detention and settler violence against Palestinian children.The commission said Israeli forces had intentionally targeted Palestinian children in several cases it examined, citing the use of heavy weaponry, delays in providing medical assistance and wound patterns documented by investigators. It concluded that Israeli forces kill children “with total impunity” and that the state acquiesces to “systemic unlawful conduct” against Palestinian children.“Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight,” Muralidhar said. “The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible.”The commission called on Israel to end attacks on children and civilian infrastructure, halt arbitrary detention of minors, release information on child detainees and allow unrestricted humanitarian access to Gaza. It also urged states to halt arms transfers that could be used in operations involving international crimes and to pursue accountability through domestic courts and the International Criminal Court.The report notes that the commission sent 13 requests for information or access to the Israeli government during its investigation but received no response. Palestinian authorities and Gaza’s health ministry provided information to investigators.