On Tuesday, June 23, 2026, a groundbreaking independent United Nations inquiry confirmed what human rights advocates have warned of for months: Israel is continuing to commit genocide in Gaza by deliberately targeting Palestinian children. The report, compiled by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, offers a devastating look at the systematic violence inflicted upon the most vulnerable members of Palestinian society since the start of the war. According to the inquiry, children make up a staggering 30 percent of all those killed by Israeli forces, representing a deliberate campaign to dismantle the biological and social future of the Palestinian people.

The commission’s findings paint a horrifying picture of systematic violence, detailing how Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by occupying forces. Crucially, the report notes that these targeted killings did not stop during diplomatic pauses, continuing even after a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025. This persistent targeting of children is identified by the UN inquiry as a primary element establishing the genocidal intent of Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza, in whole or in part.

Srinivasan Muralidhar, the chair of the independent commission, issued a powerful statement alongside the report, directly calling out the deliberate nature of the violence. Muralidhar stated, "The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces." He warned that by focusing its violence on children, Israel is systematically undermining the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist as a community and to determine their own collective future.

The report details the horrifying military tactics used against densely populated residential areas in Gaza. Israeli forces have consistently deployed high-payload munitions and other weapons with massive destructive footprints, showing a complete disregard for the lives of children. Despite the soaring child casualties, these devastating attacks continued unabated. The commission concluded that the continued use of such destructive weapons in civilian areas proves that the slaughter of children was not accidental, stating, "This indicates that such attacks, which killed children in such high numbers, were intentional."

Furthermore, the UN report exposes how Israeli forces have engaged in collective punishment, treating the entire occupied civilian population as combatants. The commission stated that children were targeted collectively because Israeli security forces viewed the entire civilian population as being associated with Hamas and other armed resistance groups. This collective criminalization of an entire society has been used to justify the systematic killing of children under the guise of security operations.