UN experts accuse Israel of shooting Gaza children, repeat genocide charge

Jerusalem,UPDATED: Jun 24, 2026 19:02 IST

A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations has accused Israel of deliberately shooting children in Gaza and repeated its allegation that Israel has committed genocide in the territory. Israel strongly rejected the findings, denying that it has deliberately targeted civilians or committed genocide during the war in Gaza.

In a report issued on Tuesday, the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which operates under the UN Human Rights Council, said about 30 per cent of the Palestinians killed between October 2023 and October 2025 — more than 20,000 people — were children. It said more children were believed to be missing or buried in unmarked graves, and added that children continued to be killed and seriously injured even after the October 2025 ceasefire.

The report said the impact of the conflict on children in Gaza amounted to war crimes and genocide, building on accusations the commission first made against Israel in September. “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,” commission chair Srinivasan Muralidhar said.

The commission said it identified specific divisions within the Israeli army operating in areas where children, including infants, were killed, along with the kinds of weapons used. It said some children were killed by quadcopter drones and sniper fire, often by a single gunshot. Doctors interviewed by the commission said autopsies in those cases “indicate a high degree of precision in the use of force, suggesting that the shot was carefully aimed rather than incidental or the result of indiscriminate fire”. The report also referred to cases after the ceasefire in which children were allegedly killed while collecting firewood in areas near the yellow line marking territory under Israeli military control. “By maintaining that the children killed were suspects, the Israeli security forces have deflected responsibility to Palestinian children, portraying them as terrorists rather than casualties,” it said.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the report a “libelous sham” and said its claims had not been verified. It also described the commission as “a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth”. Israel has criticised the broader United Nations and rejected the commission’s earlier allegations, saying it takes precautions to limit civilian casualties and harm to children.

The war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gaza’s Health Ministry said Israel’s offensive has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, is staffed by medical professionals and keeps detailed records that are generally considered reliable by UN agencies and independent experts, though it does not distinguish between civilians and militants. Overall, the report set out fresh allegations over the killing of children in Gaza, while Israel again rejected the charges.

With PTI Inputs

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