A new report by the United Nations (UN) International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory says that Israeli forces have intentionally targeted children in Gaza and the occupied West Bank since October 2023, which may amount to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The inquiry’s findings, released on Tuesday, are based on an investigation into the conduct of the war in Gaza and related developments in the West Bank over the past two years. According to the Commission, children account for roughly 30 per cent of those killed in Gaza, describing what it calls a sustained pattern of harm to minors throughout the conflict.
“Between October 7, 2023 and October 7, 2025, at least 20,179 children were killed, and 44,143 children were injured as a direct result of the hostilities in Gaza, constituting 30 per cent of those killed and 26 per cent of those injured during this period,” the report reads.
It also highlights what it says are repeated strikes on health infrastructure, including neonatal and maternity care facilities, warning that such attacks have endangered newborn survival and undermined reproductive health, with reported increases in miscarriages and birth complications among Palestinian women in Gaza.
“As a result of these attacks on healthcare facilities, limited treatment availability and the blockade imposed by Israel, children injured in Gaza will suffer well into their adulthood. Short-term complications will include infants not meeting motor developmental milestones within the first year of life,” the report says.
“In the medium term, children will be unable to develop speech and meet language milestones, and their cognitive abilities could be impaired in the long-term. A doctor summarised the situation by saying that the essence of childhood has been destroyed in Gaza.”
Further, the report raised concerns about the treatment of Palestinian children in detention, including allegations of torture, mistreatment and sexual abuse, as well as cases in which children have been held without charge or trial.
Testimonies received by the Commission from released child detainees, especially teenage boys, from Gaza describe being stripped, forced to remain naked or in diapers, and subjected to genital beatings and other forms of sexualised torture carried out in front of other prisoners as a method of humiliation and domination.
The report also cited damage to education and child welfare institutions in the occupied West Bank, including orphanages and schools, saying the destruction has affected children’s development and access to care.
“Between October 7, 2023 and October 11, 2025, 459 of a total of 564 school buildings in Gaza were directly hit. Of those hit, 208 school buildings were in Gaza, 125 in Khan Younis, 95 in North Gaza, 70 in Deir al Balah and 66 in Rafah governorates,” the report says.
“Since 61 per cent of schools in Gaza had been operating on double or triple shifts prior to October 2023, each school building destroyed potentially affected hundreds and sometimes thousands of students.”
The Commission says it has reasonable grounds to conclude that genocide has been committed in Gaza, citing killings, serious physical and mental harm, the creation of destructive living conditions, and measures aimed at preventing births.
“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” Commission Chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said.
He added that the harm to children is ongoing in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, even after periods described as ceasefires, warning that protections under international law continue to be disregarded.
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