Children facing Israel

The inhumanity of Israel's genocide force knows no bounds, with a recent UN report confirming that the large number of children killed by the Israeli military is no coincidence, but part of a greater, vile design. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry says Israel has been systematically targeting Palestinian children, in the process of which the IDF killed at least 20,179 children and injured at least 44,143 in Gaza between October 2023 and October 2025. Children account for approximately 30 per cent of all Palestinian deaths, a proportion higher than in any previous conflict in the territory. Even more damning is the fact that the killing has continued after the October 2025 ceasefire, with UNICEF reporting at least 265 children killed since the truce took effect. Children have been shot, bombed, struck by quadcopters, and killed in tents, schools, and while playing football or fishing.

The commission says the killing and maiming of Palestinian children "was part of a strategy to destroy the biological continuity and future existence of the Palestinian group in Gaza". By targeting children, Israel is attacking "the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future". The siege has also directly undermined reproductive and newborn health, with attacks on maternity centres causing rises in miscarriages and birth defects. Severe physical and mental injuries, mass trauma, orphanhood, disability, repeated displacement, starvation and the collapse of education and healthcare will affect these children for the rest of their lives.

Israel has dismissed the report as a "libellous sham" and accused the commission of ignoring Hamas's tactics. Both of these claims are ridiculous. UN investigators, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and genocide scholars worldwide have said Israel's conduct meets the definitions of genocide. And, as far as Israel and several of its allies are concerned, Hamas is a terrorist group. We would expect soldiers from any national army to conduct themselves better than terrorists.