'Take direct action against Israeli leadership': UN inquiry slams Gaza Strip 'genocide'
A UN independent commission of inquiry announced on Tuesday that Israeli security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, committing what the panel classifies as genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip, alongside war crimes in the West Bank.
Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, stated that evidence clearly demonstrates the intentional targeting and killing of children by Israeli forces. According to the report, these actions have persisted even after the October 2025 ceasefire agreement.
The report tracks the humanitarian toll following the late 2023 escalation—which began after a Hamas attack resulted in 1,200 Israeli deaths and 250 hostages—and the subsequent military campaign that has claimed over 70,000 Palestinian lives to date.
The landmark report released following nearly three years of investigation into the systematic targeting of Palestinian youth, the inquiry has issued a comprehensive set of recommendations aimed at dismantled what it describes as a "permissive military culture" within the Israeli security forces.
Releasing the 100-page report, Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel said, "Children are being killed mainly in two ways. One, through airstrikes using high-yield explosives with wide area effects. And second, using quadcopters, drones, and sniper rifles that specifically target and kill children. To their head and upper body.”
The Commission’s findings call for an immediate cessation of all hostilities in Gaza and the prosecution of high-level officials within Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the military chain of command.
The Commission's primary recommendation to the Israeli government is the immediate halt of all military operations in Gaza, specifically in residential areas and near the controversial "yellow line" demarcation boundary.
The report demands that Israel strictly adhere to international principles of necessity, distinction, and precaution, and calls for an absolute ban on the use of high-impact weapons, quadcopters, and snipers in civilian-populated zones.
Furthermore, the Commission insists on the total withdrawal of all Israeli security forces to the 1967 boundary between Gaza and Israel. This demand is coupled with a call for Israel to immediately implement the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures regarding the prevention of genocide and to end the "unlawful occupation" by evacuating all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
End to 'orphan crisis', infrastructure attacks
To address the catastrophic collapse of civilian life, the Commission recommends an immediate end to the targeting of healthcare, educational, and childcare facilities. It identifies the Israeli government's legal obligation to ensure the urgent reconstruction of these facilities and to guarantee the safe, unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid, including medical care, food, and water.
Specifically addressing the plight of the most vulnerable, the recommendations demand that Israel:
* Release all data on child detainees, particularly those from Gaza, and inform their families of their condition.
* End arbitrary and administrative detention of children, ensuring they are adjudicated only by specialized civilian courts rather than military tribunals.
* Immediately return the bodies of all deceased children to their families, ending the practice of withholding remains.
* Guarantee safe medical evacuation for injured children and their guardians.
Call for international enforcement and sanctions
Recognizing a "climate of total impunity," the Commission turned its focus to the international community, urging Member States to take direct action against Israeli leadership.
The report recommends that all nations arrest and extradite any Israeli officials against whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued warrants.
The Commission further advocates for a global arms embargo, calling on states to cease the transfer of weapons and jet fuel to Israel where there is reason to suspect they will be used in the commission of war crimes or genocide.
To the UN Security Council, the Commission recommended:
* Prohibiting all two-way military trade with Israel.
* Imposing targeted sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, on Israeli officials in positions of command responsibility and soldiers who have committed international crimes.
* Implementing sanctions on extremist settlers and the private entities or charities that fund the settlement enterprise.
Accountability for the 'occupied psyche'
The report concludes that the damage inflicted on Palestinian children -- marked by a transition from a childhood of learning to one of mere survival -- requires "child-responsive justice".
It urges the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to prioritize investigations into crimes against children and to specifically examine the involvement of the political and military officials named in the report for their command responsibility in systematic violations.
The Commission emphasizes that without these structural changes and international enforcement, the "biological continuity" of the Palestinian people remains under direct threat from state-enabled violence and calculated conditions of life.