A new report by a UN commission of inquiry alleges that Israel is committing genocide and that IDF soldiers intentionally direct fire at Palestinian children. The report says Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately carried out acts that caused death and severe physical and mental harm to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children, and claims the killing continued even after the Gaza ceasefire in October last year.
According to the commission, there is reasonable grounds to conclude that these acts are part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of Palestinians in Gaza by harming their children. The body was established in 2021 by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian law and human rights by Israel. It has three members.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the report outright. A ministry statement said, “We categorically reject the commission’s report. It is an outrageous propaganda document, like its predecessors.” Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, called it “a political blood libel disguised as a UN document,” saying the commission had predetermined its conclusions and repeatedly issued reports aimed solely at defaming Israel.
Danon said the panel should focus instead on Hamas crimes, the October 7 massacre, and the “cynical use of children and civilians as human shields.” He added that Israel would continue defending its citizens and fighting terrorism, “regardless of how many false reports are published by deranged elements in UN institutions.” The commission had already accused Israel of genocide in September, and its members then said there were reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five acts of genocide defined in the 1948 Genocide Convention had been carried out by Israeli authorities and security forces.
