UN commission of inquiry accuses Israel of genocide through deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in Gaza

A UN Commission of Inquiry report released on June 23, 2026, accuses Israeli forces of deliberately targeting Palestinian children, characterizing these actions as genocide. The report states that over 20,179 children were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and October 2025. Israel's Foreign Ministry utterly rejects the report as a libelous sham, pointing to its own 3,000 internal probes and accusing the UN of ignoring Hamas's use of human shields. Legal experts also question the legal basis of the genocide conclusion.

UN Commission genocide accusation

• ▪The United Nations Commission of Inquiry report alleged that Israeli forces targeted children using precision weapons, snipers, quadcopter drones, and high-impact weapons in residential areas
• ▪A United Nations Commission of Inquiry report released on June 23, 2026, accused Israeli security forces of deliberately targeting Palestinian children, amounting to genocide
• ▪The United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that the deliberate targeting of children was a key element establishing Israel's genocidal intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza

Israeli military investigations

• ▪Israel has initiated over 3,000 preliminary probes and more than 100 criminal investigations into its own military conduct during the war
• ▪Israeli military officials stated that approximately 40% of those killed in Gaza during the war were Hamas fighters, including armed minors aged 16 and 17

Report methodology disputes

• ▪The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused the United Nations Commission of Inquiry of ignoring Hamas's use of Palestinian children as human shields and lacking credible verification mechanisms
• ▪Israel's Foreign Ministry rejected the United Nations report as a fundamentally flawed, libelous sham designed to vilify Israel rather than seek the truth

Child casualty statistics

• ▪The Gaza Health Ministry reported that since the October 2025 ceasefire began, more than 1,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza, including 265 children
• ▪The United Nations Commission of Inquiry report cited figures stating that at least 20,179 children were killed and 44,143 children were injured in Gaza between October 7, 2023, and October 7, 2025

Legal expert critiques

• ▪International law specialist Elliot Malin stated that the United Nations report's conclusion of genocide is not legally available because 20,000 deaths represent 1.7% of Gaza's child population, which is not a substantial enough portion

Evidence corroboration problems

• ▪The United Nations Commission of Inquiry acknowledged that it did not contact families directly in high-risk re-traumatization cases, relying instead on unnamed national and international organizations and open-source media
• ▪Salo Aizenberg of UN Watch stated that the United Nations Commission of Inquiry failed to provide definitive corroborating evidence of any incident where an IDF soldier intentionally targeted a civilian child