On 23 June 2026, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel (the Commission) released a significant report entilted “The essence of childhood has been destroyed”: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – Report (A/HRC/62/CRP.2).

The report details a wide range of violations and crimes against Palestinian children. 

These violations and crimes include serious physical and psychological harm carried out the Israeli security forces that have resulted in the death of at least 20,179 and injury of 44,143 Palestinain children.

It is the first report specialising in crimes and violations against Palestinian children produced by a UN investigative body and builds on the Commission’s earlier findings while adding newly collected evidence and investigated cases.

Scope and methodology

The report covers 7 October 2023 to 31 March 2026 and focusses mainly on Gaza, but also the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. It draws on open-source verification, interviews with victims and witnesses (including children, with informed consent and “do no harm” safeguards), medical records, forensic pathology analysis, and satellite/geolocation evidence.

Israel failed to respond to all of the Commission’s 13 requests for information or access.

Key findings

The key findings are summarised below:

• At least 20,179 children were killed and 44,143 injured, roughly 30% of the overall death toll.
• Israel targeted children in two ways: directly by shooting at vital organs with precision weapons like quadcopters and snipers, and through high-impact weapons striking residential buildings, schools, and displacement camps crowded with children.
• The Commission names specific Israeli military units it holds responsible for particular incidents, including drone strikes killing two young brothers in Khan Younis, grenade and shooting attacks on a family in Sheikh Radwan, the killing of Hind Rajab and her family, and the sniper killing of a boy holding a white flag.
• Attacks on hospitals, including pediatric and neonatal facilities, systematically dismantled children’s access to life-sustaining care, and Gaza now has the highest concentration of child amputees in the world.
• Destruction of maternal and neonatal healthcare infrastructure contributed to rising miscarriages, premature births, low birth weights, and neonatal mortality, alongside a declining birth rate.
• The report says Israel destroyed 97% of Gaza’s schools and affected 95% of its universities, 22 of 38 completely destroyed.
• Documented torture, sexual and gender-based violence against detained children, described as “not exceptional but a systematic, state-enabled assault on their bodies and their dignity.”
• Israeli soldiers were documented filming themselves destroying and mocking children’s toys, which the Commission says symbolizes the dehumanization of Palestinian childhood.
• Killings of children continued after the October 2025 ceasefire, particularly near the so-called “yellow line,” which the Commission says shows Israel’s flagrant disregard of the ceasefire terms.

Primary conclusion

The Commission found that much of the harm suffered by Palestinian children was not incidental but intended to destroy the existence of Palestinians in Gaza as a group.

To quote Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the Commission:

“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces. 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.”

Since children embody the group’s biological and social continuity, the report found that these acts form part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children.

Recommendations

The report’s recommendations include the following:

• Israel to halt military operations, comply with the International Court of Justice’s  provisional measures, end child detention practices, and ensure accountability.
• All member states to arrest Israeli officials wanted by the International Criminal Court, to halt arms transfers, and impose sanctions.
• The UN Security Council and General Assembly to consider sanctions and enforcement measures.

More information

United Nations, ‘Israel continues to commit genocide, atrocity crimes by deliberately targeting Palestinian children, UN independent commission finds‘, UN News, Jun 23, 2026

Oliver Holmes, ‘Israel continues to commit genocide by targeting children in Gaza, UN inquiry finds’, The Guardian, Jun 24, 2026.

Quique Kierszenbaum in the West Bank and Julian Borger, ‘How children in West Bank are being killed by Israel ‘without accountability’, The Guardian, Jun 29, 2026.

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