Israel’s deliberate targeting of Gaza children part of genocide: UN inquiry

A United Nations commission of inquiry says Israel continues to deliberately target and kill Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and war crimes in the occupied West Bank.

In a report published on Tuesday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel examined Israeli violations against Palestinian children since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023.

The report found that about 30 percent of people killed in Gaza since the start of the war were children.

The report noted that Israel’s targeting of neonatal and maternity care centres during its war on Gaza directly endangered Palestinians’ reproductive future and the survival of newborns – driving a rise in miscarriages, birth defects and lasting vulnerabilities.

It found that Israel’s aid blockade in Gaza last year also took a severe toll on Palestinian children, causing starvation-related deaths and a rise in disease as immunisation rates fell.

“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the commission, said.

“Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law.”

The commission was established on May 27, 2021, during a special session of the UN Human Rights Council. It was set up to investigate alleged violations of international law and human rights abuses and look into the “root causes” of conflict between Israel and Palestine.

More than 50,000 children have been killed or wounded by Israeli forces since Israel began its war on Gaza, according to the UN children’s agency (UNICEF).

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A landmark United Nations investigation led by senior Indian jurist Justice Srinivasan Muralidhar has released a definitive 100-page report on Gaza. As Chair of the Independent Commission of Inquiry, Justice Muralidhar detailed grave findings regarding the targeting of children, structural destruction, and severe international law violations. He also confirmed that IDF was committing G3n0cIde. What does this official UN panel conclusion mean for global accountability and international justice? Watch the full breakdown of the evidence presented in Geneva.

I gave Keir Starmer evidence of Israel killing children, he ignored me

A British surgeon who treated dying and injured children in Gaza says his evidence of war crimes was ignored by the UK government.

Professor Nick Maynard’s experiences have been captured in a new documentary called Life Support, which comes to cinemas in the UK this month.

Speaking to Declassified co-director Mark Curtis, Nick Maynard said Keir Starmer tried to avoid meeting with him and other doctors who had worked in Gaza amid the ongoing genocide.

The UN also released two reports last month confirming a genocide and the IDF’s targeting of children, yet the UK government still remains an ally of Israel and refuses to use the term ‘genocide’ for the years long assault on Palestine.

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What is the new Gaza administration as Hamas dissolves government?

After nearly two decades of governing the Gaza Strip, Hamas has announced it will dissolve its government and hand over power to a new, Palestinian technocratic governing authority.

The move comes as a United States-backed peace process, which resulted in a ceasefire last year, has largely stalled and as Israel’s bombardment of the Strip continues regardless.

Analysts say Hamas is likely looking to put pressure on Israel by using this action to appeal to US President Donald Trump, and show that the group is committed to handing over governance and allowing the peaceful rebuilding of a devastated Gaza.

“We hope that this important step on the ground will help bring an end to the aggression, stop the genocide, secure the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, reopen the crossings to allow the entry of aid trucks and end the policy of starvation,” Ismail al-Thawabta, general director of the Government Media Office, told Al Jazeera on Monday, following a major press briefing.

At least 1,005 people have been killed in Gaza since the US-brokered ceasefire was agreed in October 2025, and at least 73,098 people have been killed in total since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023. Furthermore, Israel continues to control about 70 percent of the besieged Strip, crowding Palestinians into the tiny, congested areas that remain.

What has Hamas announced?

Speaking to journalists in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, al-Thawabta said Hamas’s head of administration, Mohammed al-Farra, had resigned from his position on Monday and that Hamas would be transferring power to the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) – a Palestinian-run technical committee backed by the United Nations as part of the US-mediated ceasefire.

Al-Thawabta said only “technical and professional staff” would remain in their posts to keep day-to-day affairs in the Strip running. “All employees working in service provision are ‘state employees’ and are fully prepared to work under the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza,” he said.

What is the new Gaza administration?

The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) was formed in January 2026 under the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2803 as part of the US-backed 20-point peace plan to end Israel’s war on Gaza.

It is a transitional body led by Palestinian technocrats, including Acting Commissioner Ali Abdel Hamid Shaath, who are seen as neutral and non-partisan.

However, Israel has not yet allowed the committee members to enter the Gaza Strip. The committee is temporarily headquartered in Cairo.

“We call on all concerned and relevant parties to immediately accelerate the steps for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG) to enter quickly and assume its national and administrative duties and responsibilities, in order to strengthen the steadfastness of our noble Palestinian people and heal their wounds,” al-Thawabta told the media on Monday.

The NCAG reports to a High Commissioner on President Trump’s Board of Peace and to the UN Security Council. The Palestinian Authority, which currently controls the West Bank, is expected to eventually take over, tentatively in 2027.

The NCAG’s mandate is largely civilian affairs – restoring health, education and water services. However, it is also mandated to maintain law and order under a unified police force.