Israel continues to commit genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN inquiry finds. Independent report says by aiming at children Israel is undermining capacity of Palestinian people to exist

Children playing among the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza’s Jabalia camp last year.

Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Israel continues to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza, an ⁠independent UN inquiry has found.

The report by the UN independent international commission of inquiry examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war in Gaza, and said about 30% of the people killed by Israeli forces have been children.

A previous report by the commission in September found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and that Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, incited these acts. Netanyahu is separately wanted by the international criminal court (ICC) for war crimes.

The Israeli mission in Geneva said Israel rejected the commission’s “libellous sham”. Israel has fought hard against allegations of genocide, while receiving critical diplomatic support from its allies, including the US and the UK.

A significant body of research by legal and rights experts has concluded that Israel is intent on destroying Palestinians, including analyses by UN investigators, rights bodies such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and genocide scholars worldwide.

Genocide, which became a crime after the second world war and the Holocaust, is considered the most serious international crime.

The convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide defines it as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

The ​UN commission said in its report, released on Tuesday, that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted and killed during the ‌war, including after a ceasefire came into effect ‌in October 2025.

It said this was a key element in establishing genocidal intent by Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, ‌in Gaza.

“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” ... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/23/israel-deliberately-targeting-gaza-children-to-commit-genocide-un-inquiry-finds

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18 June 2026- Human Rights Council- Sixty-second session

“The essence of childhood has been destroyed”: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023

Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel   ... READ MORE  https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session62/a-hrc-62-crp-2.pdf 

"It was a great joy to meet with Layan Nasir in Birzeit yesterday after her release from Israeli prison. Layan is a Palestinian Christian who worships at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit. I’m grateful to Layan’s family for their hospitality in their home. I will pray for them, and for God’s blessing and healing for Layan after the terrible ordeal of her incarceration. I pray for the release of all people who have been unjustly imprisoned, here in Palestine and Israel and around the world." Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury 

petorSdnso0013me3813rMs4:Y210gg10ea40ttt1  328yA4aa511au 7df  ·

It was a great joy to meet with Layan Nasir in Birzeit yesterday after her release from Israeli prison. 

 

Layan is a Palestinian Christian who worships at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Birzeit.

 

I’m grateful to Layan’s family for their hospitality in their home. I will pray for them, and for God’s blessing and healing for Layan after the terrible ordeal of her incarceration. 

 

I pray for the release of all people who have been unjustly imprisoned, here in Palestine and Israel and around the world.

 

 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1612058486957056&set=pcb.1612058696957035

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United Nations photo- Palestine Refugees, Middle East, 1951: "The Palestinian conflict forced into exile nearly a million Arabs. Great efforts were made by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] to provide work and pay for the refugees. But available funds were [are] only sufficient to provide employment for a small minority, without producing lasting economic effects. Refugees make materials and clothes for their own use."

United Nations Photo Palestine Refugees, 1951

Palestine Refugees, Middle East, 1951

The Palestinian conflict forced into exile nearly a million Arabs. Great efforts were made by the UN Relief and Works Agency to provide work and pay for the refugees. But available funds were only sufficient to provide employment for a small minority, without producing lasting economic effects.

Refugees make materials and clothes for their own use.

UN Photo

1951

Middle East

Photo # UN7707935

https://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/53376742762/in/album-72177720313177543/ 

This photo is in 1 album

• History of Question of Palestine 184 items  

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Palestine Refugees 1949 

A wagonload of refugee children in the U.N. demilitarized zone at Lake Tiberias on the Israeli-Syrian frontier. [Exact date unknown] 

Photo # UN7505381

https://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/53376742872/in/album-72177720313177543/

"Attacks on critical infrastructure are not only about what is destroyed, but also about the people left without what they need to live. Even wars have limits and they must be respected." ICRC Red Cross

100 countries, 1 humanitarian mission: to promote respect for the laws of war #IHL and help people caught up in armed conflicts and violence.

ICRC

@ICRC

 

Attacks on critical infrastructure are not only about what is destroyed, but also about the people left without what they need to live. Even wars have limits and they must be respected.

 https://x.com/ICRC/status/2069356238148620376

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 https://www.icrc.org/en

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Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting ​in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the occupied West Bank, an independent U.N. inquiry said ‌on Tuesday.

A displaced Palestinian boy peers through a tear in a tent wall, in Gaza City, May 6, 2026. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/ File Phot

Israel targeted Gaza children resulting in genocide, UN inquiry says

By Olivia Le Poidevin

June 23, 2026

• Summary

• Israel deliberately targeted Palestinian children, UN inquiry says
• Israel calls report a 'libelous sham', says it strives to minimize harm to children
• Report finds 30% of those killed in Gaza war were children
• Inquiry says Israel carried out crimes against humanity in West Bank

GENEVA, June 23 (Reuters) - Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting ​in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the occupied West Bank, an independent U.N. inquiry said ‌on Tuesday.

 

The report by the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel examined violations against Palestinian children since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023.

Around 30% of those killed in the Gaza war were children, the report found.... READ MORE https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-targeted-gaza-children-resulting-genocide-un-inquiry-says-2026-06-23/?lctg=63aab956e883a43a2a06ba90&user_email=833907525a7ed9da50588421f9a328c4ffe67eebcd2f30e04f9a17ca5f772e12

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"The demolition of homes and uprooting of olive trees are visible. But damage behind the scenes goes deeper... " Rocketing violence and an economic chokehold have been overshadowed by conflict elsewhere, but the UK and others must stop looking away

 The Guardian view on Israel and the West Bank: allies must protect Palestinian lives and livelihoods

Editorial

 

Protesters and Palestinian landowners who say some of their land was taken for Mount Tarousa settlement run from tear gas fired by Israeli forces on 19 June 2026. Photograph: Hazem Bader/AFP/Getty Images

Opinion 

Palestine

Sun 21 Jun 2026 12.30 EDT

The “ceasefire” in Gaza is a “cruel and deadly illusion”, warned James Elder, the Unicef spokesman, on Friday. Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians since its declaration in October, says the Gaza health ministry, including 265 children – an average of one a day.

The killings and broader humanitarian crisis have been overshadowed by the war on Iran and have diverted attention from escalating violence in the occupied West Bank. Last week, former Israeli prime ministers, military chiefs and heads of security services were among the signatories of a letter accusing its government of “doing nothing to eradicate Jewish terror” there. Ehud Olmert, one of the former prime ministers, accused Israel of “an organized, systematic, state-funded campaign of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity”, with security forces assisting settler violence. Meanwhile, the army chief has reportedly described troops “killing like we haven’t killed since 1967”.

But a report from the International Crisis Group points to another dangerous development: the relentless campaign pushing the West Bank’s economy towards collapse. That does not only hurt individuals and families. Without a functioning economy, there can be no Palestinian state. As the report warns: “The economic conditions necessary for any Palestinian future other than permanent subjugation are being dismantled.” Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister and head of a far-right pro-settler party, has said that he wants to bury the idea of Palestinian statehood and promised “economic strangulation”.

Since 1967, Israel’s controls on the West Bank have prevented it from developing an autonomous, functioning economy. The chokehold tightened dramatically after the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023. The Palestinian economy saw real GDP shrink from $17.8bn to $13.7bn in 2024. Almost 300,000 Palestinians lost jobs in the West Bank and Israel.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/21/the-guardian-view-on-israel-and-the-west-bank-allies-must-protect-palestinian-lives-and-livelihoods

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