UN Commission: Children in Gaza targeted by Israel – this is genocide
The United Nations Commission of Inquiry claims to have found evidence that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted by Israeli forces. The investigators regard this as a key piece of evidence in proving genocidal intent. Tel Aviv rejects the allegations and describes the report as ‘defamatory’.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry accuses Israel of havingdeliberately targeted Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip. According to the investigators, this evidence would help to demonstrate a ‘genocidal intent’ on the part of the Israeli authorities and security forces. Tel Aviv has rejected the report’s conclusions, describing it as ‘defamatory’ and accusing the Commission of ignoring Hamas’s responsibilities.
The conclusions are set out in a new report published by the Commission established in 2021 by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international law in the Palestinian Territories and in Israel. The investigators state that they have found evidence which, in their view, indicates that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces.
According to the Commission, there are ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe that the Israeli authorities and security forces have continued to commit the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip. The report argues that the intensity and systematic nature of the military operations have resulted in an unprecedented number of deaths, injuries and trauma among Palestinian children.
Investigators also state that the consequences of the conflict are not limited to the direct victims. The report argues that the living conditions imposed in the Strip have contributed to preventable infant mortality and compromised the reproductive and neonatal health of the population. The Commission refers to a gradual ‘eradication of childhood’ in Gaza and to effects that are set to impact the lives of the surviving children for many years to come.
According to the figures cited in the report, at least 20,179 children were reportedly killed and 44,143 injured during the first two years of the war. The Commission maintains that the killing and wounding of children formed part of a strategy aimed at undermining the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian community in the Strip. Many of the surviving children, the document states, will have to live with permanent disabilities that are already altering the demographic landscape of the territory.
