Independent UN-commissioned experts accuse Israel of targeting Gaza children, repeat genocide claim

JERUSALEM (AP) — A team of independent experts commissioned by the United Nations accused Israel of deliberately shooting children in Gaza and repeated its accusation that Israel has committed genocide in the territory.

Israel vociferously denies claims that it committed genocide during its 2 1/2 year war in Gaza.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, an investigative body operating under the U.N. Human Rights Council, said in its report Tuesday that roughly 30% of the Palestinians killed from October 2023 to October 2025 — more than 20,000 in total — were children. More children are believed to be missing or buried in unmarked graves.

Israel has denied deliberately targeting civilians and pushed back on accusations, including from rights groups, that it committed genocide in Gaza. Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the report a “libelous sham” and said the claims included hadn’t been verified. It also criticized the commission as “a fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth.”

The report also said the toll the conflict had taken on children in Gaza amounted to war crimes and genocide, building on accusations it first made against Israel in September.

“Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law,” Srinivasan Muralidhar, the commission’s chair, said.

The report identified specific divisions within the Israeli army operating in areas where children as young as infants were killed, as well as the kind of munitions used. It also focused, in part, on children the commission determined were killed by quadcopter drones and sniper fire, often via a single gunshot.

Doctors interviewed by the commission said autopsies in those incidents “indicate a high degree of precision in the use of force, suggesting that the shot was carefully aimed rather than incidental or the result of indiscriminate fire.”

The report also noted cases in which children have continued to be killed after a ceasefire was reached in October 2025, including some who were said to be collecting firewood in areas approaching the yellow line that delineates areas under Israeli military control.

“By maintaining that the children killed were ‘suspects,’ the Israeli security forces have deflected responsibility to Palestinian children, portraying them as ‘terrorists’ rather than casualties,” it says.

Israel has criticized the broader United Nations and strenuously denied the commission’s past allegations — including of genocide — and says it takes precautions to limit civilian casualties and harm to children. The Israel-Hamas war started with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records that are generally considered reliable by United Nations agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children make up around half of all fatalities.