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A new report by the United Nations Human Rights Council says Israel “deliberately” targeted Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Published on Tuesday, the report 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 that time, the Commission concluded that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The COI’s Tuesday 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 allegations and says the Commission’s report is propoganda 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 1,000 people have died in Gaza from ongoing strikes and fighting in the strip. Of those, it says 265 are children.
A report by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry says even after the October 2025 ceasefire, Israel continues to target children in Gaza. The commission says it’s part of a ‘deliberate strategy to destroy the future of Palestinians in Gaza.’ Israel denies the allegations and says the commission of inquiry is meant to ‘vilify’ Israel instead of seeking the truth.
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. CBC News freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife spoke to families whose children have been the victims of drone strikes or caught in the crossfire of fighting.
‘Every day there’s an attack on us’
On May 21, 13-year-old Jude Muhammad Dweik was playing soccer with his friends in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza when his family says a quadcopter drone dropped a bomb on the group. Jude was killed and two of his friends were injured.
While his grandson’s body was carried away to be prayed on and eventually buried, Talal Dweik told El Saife that he didn’t understand how such an attack could take place.
“My grandson was martyred and the other two with him were injured,” he said. “Every day there’s an attack on us.”
Such bombings and their brutal aftermath have become commonplace in Gaza throughout the war. When the dust settles, men bring in plastic bodybags to carry the remains of children too small to fill them to the hospital morgue for identification.
Report finds Israel deliberately targeted children
According to the COI, one of the key elements for establishing Israel’s genocidal intent was the “deliberate targeting of children.”
Srinivasan Muralidhar, 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 to 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,” said Yahya Kashko. “We can’t bear martyrdom every day.”
CBC News has reached out to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for comment in an effort to verify both attacks, but has not heard back.
Israel responds
In its report, the COI called for Israel to cease committing violations and crimes against Palestinian children.
It also said it had identified military units within the IDF that it claimed were responsible for killing and injuring Palestinian children and made recommendations to Israel and to all Member States of the UN Human Rights Council to ensure accountability for such crimes.
CBC News reached out to the IDF for comment and was directed to a social media statement by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, which said it “utterly rejects” allegations made by the UN report. The post also claimed the report is propaganda that is meant to “vilify Israel rather than seek the truth.”
“The COI is a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth,” it wrote.
In its report, the COI wrote that the international community as a whole must uphold their international legal obligations and call for an end to the hostilities.
