UN inquiry says 20,000 Palestinian children killed in targeted Gaza attacks

Unitednations,UPDATED: Jun 24, 2026 20:26 IST

A United Nations commission of inquiry has said more than 20,000 Palestinian children were killed by Israeli forces in what it described as "deliberate, targeted" attacks between October 7, 2023 and October 7, 2025. The 100-page report by the Independent Commission of Inquiry, chaired by former Orissa High Court Chief Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar, said at least 20,179 children were killed and 44,143 were injured in the hostilities in Gaza during this period.

Israel rejected the report, calling it a "libelous sham". It said, "The COI is a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth," and later added that the report "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".

Speaking at a press conference in Geneva on Tuesday, Muralidhar said the commission found "indisputable evidence" of the "deliberate, targeted killing of Palestinian children, including since the October 2025 ceasefire". He said the findings also covered "the use of torture, inhumane and degrading treatment, including use of sexual and gender-based violence against Palestinian children, as well as targeting of critical infrastructure essential to children, such as orphanages, health care, and educational facilities". He added that there had been "widespread and systematic" killing and harming of children between October 7, 2023 and October 2025.

The commission examined violations and crimes against Palestinian children by Israeli security forces since October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel. That Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and 251 were taken hostage. The report said children made up 30 per cent of those killed and 26 per cent of those injured in Gaza during the two-year period it studied.

The report said that until October 7, 2023, roughly half of Gaza's population was under 18 and that these children had already spent their lives under blockade and occupation, facing repeated hostilities and trauma. It noted that the share of children killed was higher than in earlier escalations, when children accounted for about 24 per cent of conflict-related deaths in 2008-2009 and 2014. It said children killed in Gaza represented around two per cent of the territory's 1.2 million child population by October 2025. Among those killed, at least 5,031 were under five, including 1,029 under one year of age and about 420 newborns. The commission said the actual number of children killed and injured was "certainly higher" and cited Save the Children as estimating that 5,160 children were buried under rubble.

Muralidhar said the commission's findings were that "Israel targets children to weaken demographic vitality and deny the Palestinian people's right to self-determination". He said the report concluded that the Israeli authorities and security forces had "deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children and destroyed their childhood" and were responsible for "crimes against humanity, including persecution and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, and war crimes in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem". He also said the protection, care and survival of Palestinian children and pregnant women were "inextricably linked" to the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, adding that "By targeting children, Israel is eroding the foundational structure of Palestinian society, weakening the demographic vitality and overall capacity of the Palestinian people to sustain and exercise its right to determine its future as a people".

The commission also examined a sharp rise in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Muralidhar said, "Our report concludes that the settler violence in the West Bank functions as a means of implementing Israeli state policies, with both the state and violent settler groups working in collaboration towards the same strategic objective: unlawful territorial expansion." He added that the report also found that Hamas had repeatedly committed grave abuses against Palestinians in Gaza, using the cover of Israeli military offensives and the broader collapse of law and order to carry out campaigns of repression, torture and unlawful killings.

The report called on Israel to immediately halt military operations in Gaza and ensure accountability for all those responsible for crimes against Palestinian children, including individual perpetrators and those in political or military command. It also urged the UN Security Council to ban all two-way military-related trade with Israel and impose "immediate, comprehensive sanctions", including travel bans, asset freezes and financial restrictions, on Israeli officials in command positions, the leadership of the Israeli security forces, military commanders and soldiers serving in Gaza on or since October 2023 who have or may have committed international crimes.

With PTI Inputs

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