DaysofPal – Palestinian children have been systematically and deliberately targeted by Israeli occupation forces as part of a broader genocidal campaign, the UN’s top investigative body concluded in a landmark report.
The 88-page report, released by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, details the extensive scope of harm inflicted on children since October 7, 2023. The findings document precision sniper fire, drone strikes, torture in detention, reproductive violence, and the systemic destruction of schools and healthcare infrastructure.
“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the commission.
Muralidhar emphasized that despite the ceasefire enacted on October 10, 2025, the violence has not ceased: “Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law.”
The commission has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prioritize crimes against children in its ongoing investigations and named specific military units responsible for the killings. Israel did not respond to any of the commission’s 13 requests for information or access.
Thousands of Children Killed
The report said at least 20,179 Palestinian children were killed and 44,143 injured in Gaza from October 7, 2023, to October 7, 2025. Children accounted for roughly 30 percent of all those killed during the conflict.
Among the victims were at least 5,031 children under the age of five, including 1,029 infants younger than one year and approximately 420 newborn babies. The commission also estimated that another 5,160 children remain buried beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings, noting that the true death toll is likely higher because many fatalities have not been recorded.
The commission documented a consistent pattern of Israeli forces deliberately shooting children with precision weapons.
Seventeen medical professionals who worked in hospitals across Gaza reported treating numerous children with single gunshot wounds to the head or upper body, injuries they attributed to Israeli snipers or quadcopter drones.
One physician told investigators the pattern suggested soldiers were “deliberately shooting teenage boys in a game of target practice.”
Forensic experts reviewed 15 of the 17 documented cases and found that 12 were consistent with single-precision gunshots.
Among the cases highlighted was the killing of five-year-old Hind Rajab and six of her relatives in Gaza City on January 29, 2024. The commission concluded that soldiers from Israel’s 401st Brigade deliberately opened fire on the family and later shelled the ambulance sent to rescue the child, killing two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics.
Other documented incidents include the shooting of a 15-year-old boy carrying a white flag during an evacuation in Khan Younis; a 10-day-old infant shot in the head by a quadcopter while being breastfed inside a tent in Nuseirat; a four-year-old girl shot while eating with her family in Khan Younis, leaving her permanently paralyzed on one side; and an eight-year-old boy struck by sniper fire while playing outside in Bureij refugee camp.
Children Shot While Seeking Aid
The report also details incidents in which children were shot near aid distribution sites operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation beginning in May 2025.
Doctors interviewed by the commission described treating children suffering from gunshot wounds sustained at or near the aid centers.
A truck driver working for the foundation told investigators he witnessed Israeli soldiers shoot two teenage boys in the head as they ran away from one distribution site. According to his testimony, one soldier remarked that “fingers are light on the trigger.”
Killings Continued After Ceasefire
The commission found that the October 2025 ceasefire did not halt attacks on children.
It documented more than 100 children killed and hundreds more injured in the weeks that followed, particularly near a newly established Israeli military demarcation zone inside Gaza known as the “yellow line.”
Among the cases cited was a drone strike on November 29, 2025, that killed two brothers, aged nine and ten, while they were collecting firewood for their wheelchair-bound father near Bani Suheila in southern Gaza. The commission concluded the children were clearly visible and posed no threat.
Another documented incident involved a 16-year-old boy from Jabalia who was shot by Israeli soldiers on December 10, 2025, before an Israeli tank ran over his body.
Children in the West Bank
The report also documents the deaths of 213 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, between October 2023 and October 2025.
It concludes that Israeli forces systematically targeted Palestinian boys, frequently labeling them as “terrorists” or “future terrorists.”
Among the cases cited are the fatal shooting of a two-year-old girl while she was eating dinner with her family in Jenin and a 10-year-old boy shot during a military raid in Tulkarm despite CCTV footage showing he was unarmed. According to the commission, soldiers delayed medical treatment and one soldier reportedly told the boy’s father, “I am the one who shot your son. God willing, he will die.”
The report also details the killing of a 14-year-old boy in Al-Faraa refugee camp, where soldiers prevented paramedics from reaching him for 45 minutes before withholding his body.
Detention, Torture and Sexual Abuse
The commission found widespread abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli detention.
More than 1,655 children have reportedly been detained in the occupied West Bank since October 2023, including 600 during 2025 alone. As of the end of 2025, more than half of all detained children were being held under administrative detention without charge.
Investigators documented allegations of beatings, blindfolding, prolonged stress positions, dog attacks, denial of food and medical care, electric shocks during interrogation, and sexual violence.
One 15-year-old detainee described being held with 70 adults at the Sde Teiman detention facility while guards released dogs into the cell. Another said interrogators electrocuted him through a needle inserted into his shoulder and forced him into painful positions for up to 12 hours at a time.
The report also cites testimony saying that prison guards raped boys and subjected detainees to systematic sexual violence.
The commission concluded that the death of a 17-year-old Palestinian prisoner in Megiddo Prison in March 2025, following prolonged malnutrition and untreated injuries, amounted to the war crimes of torture, inhuman treatment, and willful killing.
Collapse of Health and Education Systems
The report states that Israeli attacks forced all three of Gaza’s major pediatric hospitals to shut down within the first two months of the war.
The number of neonatal incubators reportedly fell from 178 before the war to just 54 by November 2024. Medical staff described placing three or four premature babies in a single incubator because of shortages.
Investigators also documented the deaths of four newborn babies left attached to life-support machines after Israeli forces ordered the evacuation of Al-Nasr Pediatric Hospital and prevented staff from returning.
According to the report, at least 15 newborns later died from preventable hypothermia, while the destruction of reproductive healthcare caused miscarriage rates to rise sharply and maternal mortality to triple.
The commission estimates that by March 2026, around 70 percent of newborns in Gaza were either premature or underweight.
The report further states that Israeli attacks damaged or destroyed more than 97 percent of Gaza’s schools, leaving over 668,000 children without access to formal education for three consecutive academic years.
It also documents cases in which Israeli soldiers filmed themselves demolishing schools and destroying children’s belongings before posting the footage online.
According to the commission, Israel’s blockade contributed to the deaths of at least 151 children from malnutrition by October 2025.
The blockade also disrupted vaccination campaigns, allowing polio to re-emerge in Gaza in August 2024 after being eradicated for 25 years.
Legal Conclusions
The commission concluded that there are reasonable grounds to believe Israeli authorities and security forces continued to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza, as well as war crimes in the occupied West Bank.
It found that the deliberate targeting of children constitutes a key element in establishing genocidal intent, arguing that children represent the biological and social continuity of the Palestinian people.
The report also concluded that Israeli forces committed the crimes against humanity of extermination and murder through the killing and maiming of children, while identifying additional war crimes, including torture, sexual violence, attacks on civilian infrastructure, and the use of starvation as a method of warfare.
The commission named specific Israeli military units in several documented incidents and called for accountability, including for commanders with superior responsibility. It noted that Israel did not respond to any of its 13 requests for information or access during the investigation.
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