An independent international commission of inquiry established by the United Nations accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, asserting that this systematic behavior constitutes a major factor in proving genocide and ongoing attempts to destroy Palestinian society, either wholly or partially.
The comprehensive report, presented Tuesday at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, stated that the killing and serious injury of children has continued despite the ceasefire agreement declared in the Gaza Strip on October 10, 2015.
The commission’s chair, Srinivasan Muralidar, affirmed that the documented evidence clearly demonstrates the direct targeting of children by Israeli occupation forces in blatant disregard of international humanitarian law.
The committee’s accusations were not limited to direct killings, but extended to the destruction of the community’s infrastructure through the targeting of maternal and newborn care centers. This has led to a sharp rise in miscarriage rates and birth defects, threatening the reproductive future of Palestinians.
The report also documented the profound effects of the siege and the weaponization of starvation, as well as the dismantling of orphanages and educational facilities. These actions have resulted in collective trauma and deprivation of nutrition, education, and healthcare that will haunt a generation of children for the rest of their lives.
In a related context, the committee revealed that Palestinian children in Israeli detention centers are subjected to brutal methods including torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, and detention without disclosing their whereabouts, considering that these practices are rooted in a long-standing, ethnically-based, and intergenerational pattern aimed at humiliating and suppressing the Palestinian presence.
