UN Commission of Inquiry: Israel committed genocide in Gaza by deliberately targeting children

2026-06-23 14:47:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

UN Commission of Inquiry: Israel committed genocide in Gaza by deliberately

A UN investigative commission says Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, as well as war crimes in the occupied West Bank.

A new report claims that Israeli authorities and security forces have “intentionally committed acts causing death and serious bodily and mental harm to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children,” and that the killings have continued even after last October’s ceasefire in Gaza.

The commission says there are sufficient reasons to conclude that these actions are part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said it "completely rejects" the report, calling it a "shameful slander" and "propaganda material as serious as previous reports." The Israeli military launched the Gaza campaign in response to Hamas' unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

At least 73,035 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since then, including more than 21,280 children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

Israel's Foreign Ministry has called the report a flawed mechanism that aims only to smear Israel and not to seek the truth. It says the report ignores Israeli children killed or taken hostage by Hamas and the use of civilians as human shields by Palestinian armed groups. It also accuses the commission of lacking reliable verification.

Israeli leaders have consistently denied accusations of genocide and say the military operations in Gaza are in self-defense against Hamas and other groups, as well as to free hostages. They also say their forces respect international law and take measures to minimize harm to civilians.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is considering a lawsuit filed by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide, but the decision could take years. Israel calls the case baseless and built on one-sided accusations. /CNA