A United Nations commission has accused Israel of deliberately harming children in Gaza in a new report, a charge that Israel has forcefully rejected as a libelous sham. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry laid out its findings in a 94-page document with citations, placing the treatment of children at the center of its case against Israel's conduct in the war.
The report's core claim is stark. It says that even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children have continued to be killed and seriously injured, and that Israel's actions form part of what it describes as a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children. The commission presented the issue as a critical factor in determining genocidal intent.
The commission put forward sweeping figures to support its findings. According to the report, more than 20,000 children have been killed and more than 40,000 injured as a direct result of the hostilities. It argued that Israel's use of explosive weapons and heavy munitions in wide areas leaves children especially exposed, noting they have heightened physiological vulnerabilities and are at greater risk of being thrown by blast impacts than adults.
One section drew particular attention. The report said it examined 168 cases of children over a two-year period and found that at least 70 were shot by quadcopters. Its authors noted that the weapon, as described in a news report on Israel's Channel 14, includes a high-resolution camera, which the commission said suggests an operator would have been able to see a child.
Israel responded quickly and emphatically, rejecting the report outright. A statement from Israel's permanent mission to the United Nations called the commission a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose, it said, is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth. Israeli officials dismissed the document as an outrageous propaganda piece.
The three-member expert panel has issued a series of reports on the conflict. One released in September accused Israel of committing genocide. The same body has also produced findings directed at Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7th attacks on Israel, which killed roughly 1,200 people and led to 251 being taken hostage.
Alongside its findings, the commission set out a number of recommendations. Chief among them is a call for Israel to end all of its military operations in Gaza. The report, and Israel's swift rejection of it, add another sharp exchange to the long-running dispute over how the conduct of the war is being judged on the international stage.