Photo credit: Aljazeera
A new report by the United Nations Human Rights Council says Israel “deliberately” targeted Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
CBC reports that the report, published on Tuesday, was based on work by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, that took place last year. At the same time, the Commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The report also found that the “intense scale and systematic nature of the Israeli military operations have continued,” causing unprecedented death, injury and trauma to Palestinian children. Israel denies the allegation and says the Commission’s report is propaganda meant to vilify the country.
The war was ignited after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that left 1,200 people dead and 200 hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s ensuing insurgency into Gaza has left more than 73,000 dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Since a ceasefire began in October 2025, the Gaza Health Ministry has noted that over 1000 people have died in Gaza from ongoing strikes and fighting in the strip. Of those, it says 265 are children.
Many Palestinians in the strip have told CBC News they have little hope that a ceasefire will hold and allow them to return to their normal lives one day.
According to the COI, one of the key elements for establishing Israel’s genocidal intent was the “deliberate targeting of children.”
Srinivasan Muralidharr, chair of the Commission, said in the report that evidence showed Israeli security forces had deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children. He said that by doing so, “Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and determine their future.”
Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, he said “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.”
Another drone strike in northern Gaza, this one on May 6 in Gaza City, killed 15-year-old Mohammed Bashir Kashko. His family says there was no warning of the strike, which they say targeted tents belonging to displaced people.
The scene at Nasser Hospital was chaotic as the Kashko family tried to identify its victims – Mohammed’s body lay on a plastic mat as his uncle stood nearby crying.
“All the youth here are killed,” Yahya Kashko said. “We can’t bear martyrdom every day.”
