Report finds at least 20,179 children killed between Oct 2023 and Oct 2025, around 30% of overall death toll
Israeli authorities. security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in theoccupied West Bank, an independent United Nations inquiry said on Tuesday.
The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,. Israel examinedviolations against Palestinian childrensince the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Around 30% of thosekilled in the Gaza warwere children, the report found.
A previous report by the commission in September found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. that top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts — accusations that Israel called scandalous.
Israel's mission in Geneva said Israel rejected what it called the Commission's "second defamatory advocacy report". "Israel dismisses this libellous sham," it said in a statement, adding that "every child deserves protection". asserting that the report ignored "the brutal tactics of Hamas".
Israel utterly rejects this latest libelous sham. as well as all of the COI’s other defamatory reports.To those seeking the truth, learn more about the report's fatal flaws at:https://t.co/mBcMVhA3xWpic.twitter.com/H3WposT6ft
The UN commission said that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted. killed during the war, including after aceasefire came into effectin October 2025. It said this was a key element establishing genocidal intent by Israeli authorities. security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.
“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted. killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, the commission's chair, in a statement accompanying the report.
The report found that the proportion of children killed was higher than in previous conflicts. Between October 7, 2023. October 7, 2025, at least 20,179 children were killed, around 30% of the overall death toll. By comparison, in hostilities in Gaza in 2008–2009. 2014, children made up approximately 24% of conflict-related fatalities, the report said.
Israeli forcescontinued to use high-payload munitions andweapons with wide-area effectsin densely populated residential areas despite mounting child casualties. the commission said. “This indicates that such attacks, which killed children in such high numbers, were intentional,” it said.
Read:Dutch report documenting Israeli shootings of Palestinian children in Gaza wins European Press Prize
It said it believed children were targeted collectively because the Israeli security forces considered the civilian population as a whole to be associated with Hamas. other armed groups.
A rebuttal shared by Israel's mission in Geneva said Israel "consistently strives to minimise harm to children even in situations of conflict". that Israel rejected the suggestion it deliberately targets children "in the strongest terms".
Muralidhar said that by targeting children, Israel was undermining the capacity of the Palestinian people to exist. to determine their future.
Conditions imposed by Israel in Gaza, including widespread attacks,repeated displacementand starvation caused by the blockade of aid, food. medicine, severely harmed children’s health and development, resulting in preventable deaths and trauma, the report said.
Read More:UNICEF calls Gaza ceasefire a'deadly illusion'
The inquiry also found that attacks on healthcare. reproductive facilities impacted the survival of newborns and reported increases in miscarriages, and that nearly all children in Gaza were reported to require psychological support.
Israel's rebuttal said the report failed to mention Israel's role in facilitating vaccinations. the entry of medical staff, and the establishment of field hospitals. It accused Hamas of systematically diverting humanitarian aid and fuel for hospitals. Hamas has rejected such accusations.
In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Commission found a sharp increase in violence byIsraeli settlersagainst Palestinian children. documented evidence of torture, includingsexual and gender-based violence, during mass arrests and detention.
It said Palestinian children, particularly boys, were subjected to systematic mistreatment in detention, including forced stripping, beatings and food deprivation.
The commission concluded that the treatment constituted the crimes against humanity oftorture. other inhumane actscausing great suffering or serious injury.
Israel's rebuttal said the report's findings on the West Bank omitted context on the "constant terrorist threat". it said Israeli security forces were responding to.
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