1 of 2 | A Palestinian man carries the shrouded body of a child who was killed in an Israeli bombardment on March 18, 2025. Israel launched extensive aerial assault on Gaza, shattering the ceasefire and killing more than 400 Palestinians, including women and children. File Photo by Anas Deeb/UPI | License Photo
A U.N. human rights committee said Tuesday that Israel is continuing to commit genocide in the Gaza Strip and is deliberately targeting Palestinian children.
The U.N. International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory published a report concluding that Israeli authorities and military forces have committed genocide as has been their intent. The killings of children have continued after a cease-fire was agreed to in October.
“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” Srinivasan Muralidhar, chairman of the commission, said in a statement. “Even after the October 2025 cease-fire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed Palestinian children under international law.”
The report says children have sustained severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, separation, disability, repeated displacements, starvation, and the collapse of education and healthcare. Children have also been arrested and tortured in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.
The destruction of infrastructure, orphanages, healthcare and education facilities will have lasting effects, the commission said.
“Even if the bombs and guns fall silent in Gaza and West Bank, Palestinian children will not simply recover overnight,” Muralidhar continued. “The destruction of their health, education and development is irreversible.”
The commission calls on the international community to push for an end to hostilities and for Israel to end its occupation of Gaza.
More than 73,035 people have been killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched attacks on Israel. More than 21,280 have been children.
The U.N. International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory is a three-person panel that was established in 2021 by the U.N. Human Rights Council.
