Israeli forces deliberately killed over 20,000 Palestinian children since Oct 2023, UN commission finds

A United Nations commission investigating conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories said on Tuesday it had found evidence that Israeli authorities and security forces were responsible for serious violations against Palestinian children during the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The findings were presented in a 100-page report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, covering the period from Oct. 7, 2023, to March 31, 2026.

The commission, chaired by Indian jurist Srinivasan Muralidhar, a former chief justice of the Orissa High Court and current senior advocate at India’s Supreme Court, said its investigation focused specifically on the impact of the conflict on Palestinian children.

“The Commission found indisputable evidence with regards to the deliberate targeted killing of Palestinian children,” Muralidhar told reporters while presenting the report, which he described as the first UN investigative study devoted exclusively to alleged crimes and violations against Palestinian children.

According to the commission, Israeli authorities and security forces “deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children and destroyed their childhood,” actions that it said amounted to crimes against humanity, including persecution, as well as war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The commission reported that more than 20,000 Palestinian children had been killed and over 44,000 injured since the start of the war following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. It said children accounted for nearly 30% of all recorded deaths in the occupied Palestinian territory during the reporting period.

The report said many child fatalities resulted from air strikes involving high-explosive munitions, while others were linked to attacks involving quadcopter drones, sniper fire and other weapons. It stated that injuries were frequently concentrated on victims’ heads and upper bodies.

“There has been a widespread and systematic killing and harming of children,” Muralidhar said.

The commission also highlighted what it described as a growing orphan crisis. It estimated that 58,054 children lost one or both parents between October 2023 and October 2025.

On education, investigators said the conflict had severely disrupted access to schooling and higher education. The report estimated that 97% of schools in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed, while 95% of universities had been affected. Twenty-two of Gaza’s 38 universities were reported to have been completely destroyed.

The commission said the consequences of the conflict extended beyond direct violence. It cited deteriorating humanitarian conditions, including food shortages and restrictions that it said threatened children’s survival.

According to the report, 151 children had died from malnutrition by Oct. 1, 2025. It also stated that more than 1,000 children underwent amputations of one or more limbs between October and December 2023.

Based on the evidence reviewed, the commission concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces were responsible for crimes against humanity, including persecution, as well as war crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank.

“The report released today further substantiates our finding on genocide,” Muralidhar said, referring to conclusions reached by the commission in previous investigations.

The report argued that attacks on children had broader implications for Palestinian society because children represent its future population and social continuity. It said the protection and welfare of Palestinian children and pregnant women were closely connected to Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

By harming children, the report said, Israel was weakening the social foundations of Palestinian society and undermining its capacity to sustain its national identity and determine its future.

The commission also examined developments in the West Bank, where it said violence by Israeli settlers functioned as a mechanism for advancing state policies. Investigators concluded that state authorities and violent settler groups were pursuing a shared objective of territorial expansion that the report described as unlawful under international law.

At the same time, the commission reiterated findings from a separate report issued on June 15, 2026, which found that Hamas had committed serious abuses against Palestinians in Gaza. Those abuses included repression, torture and unlawful killings carried out amid the breakdown of public order during the conflict.

Muralidhar dismissed suggestions that conditions in Gaza had improved substantially following a ceasefire reached in October 2025. Referring to evidence submitted to the UN Security Council earlier this year, he said Palestinians continued to be killed and injured after the truce and that humanitarian aid deliveries remained insufficient to meet needs.

The commission also criticized Israel’s treatment of activists detained during maritime aid missions to Gaza, saying those incidents reinforced its earlier findings regarding the alleged mistreatment, torture and sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees held by Israeli authorities.

Muralidhar welcomed the launch of judicial investigations in several countries concerning alleged crimes linked to the Gaza conflict and said he hoped UN member states, the Security Council and other international institutions would consider the commission’s recommendations.

The commission said it would continue pursuing accountability efforts aimed at ending impunity and establishing both state responsibility and individual criminal liability, including command responsibility, for violations of international law.

Muralidhar was appointed chair of the commission in November 2025. The panel’s other members are Florence Mumba of Zambia and Chris Sidoti of Australia.