UN commission of inquiry finds Israel's killing of Gaza children amounts to genocide
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, chaired by Srinivasan Muralidhar, concluded that Israel has deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children in Gaza, and that the conduct amounts to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The commission said roughly 30% of those killed in Gaza since October 2023 were children, that more than 50,000 children have been killed or wounded, and that strikes on neonatal and maternity facilities, along with aid blockades, compounded the toll.
Israel’s mission in Geneva rejected the report as a “libelous sham” and “defamatory advocacy,” arguing the commission disregarded Hamas’s tactics. The finding does not carry binding legal force, but commission of inquiry reports feed into International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice proceedings and shape the diplomatic and legal pressure facing Israel; a formal genocide determination from a UN body raises the stakes in both venues.