Away from the bright lights of the US-Iran deal, the atrocity that arguably triggered this disastrous conflict shows no signs of stopping. In a new report released on Tuesday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel found that Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank. The commission found that much of the harm suffered by Palestinian children was not incidental but intended to destroy the existence of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group. Given that children embody the biological and social continuity of a group, the commission has said it has reasonable grounds to conclude that Israel’s acts form part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of Palestinians by targeting their children. This is a pretty damning conclusion and one far stronger than those Israel is used to receiving.
According to the report, Israel targeted Palestinian children in two distinct ways. There was direct targeting through the use of precision weapons like snipers and quadcopters and through the use of high-impact weapons causing widespread and systematic attacks on residential buildings, schools, and displacement camps crowded with children. These killings have continued since the October 2025 ‘ceasefire’ as children continued being killed and injured in various circumstances, including when approaching the so-called ‘yellow line’. A few days prior to the release of this report, Unicef had said that 265 Palestinian children have been killed since the ceasefire was announced. The report also mentions the torture and ill-treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons, documented incidents of sexual and gender-based violence targeting Palestinian children, deliberate attacks on hospitals, and attacks on schools in Gaza and the complete removal of children’s education in the Gaza Strip. What we see here is a comprehensive attack on every aspect of Palestinian children’s lives as part of a systematic effort to destroy the people as a whole.
Will the commission’s words actually provoke a response from those capable of stopping Israel? Likely not. Israel currently controls 60 per cent of the Gaza Strip and plans to expand that to 70 per cent. Meanwhile, settler violence in the West Bank has reached record levels, with an average of six attacks per day causing casualties or damage. This is how Israel behaves amidst a ceasefire brokered by its most important/only ally. It is also exactly how it has repeatedly tried to sabotage the US-Iran peace deal and related negotiations. And while frustration with Israel is now even growing among the otherwise friendly Trump administration, Israel may well outlast it, having already tanked US President Trump’s popularity by dragging him into a disastrous war. One thing is for certain, though: neither the Palestinians nor the Middle East region as a whole will know any peace as long as a genocidal state is able to keep doing what it wants.
