The Israeli authorities and security forces would have “deliberately targeted” Palestinian children, an element which according to UN investigators contributes to the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza. This is according to a report published today by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which Israel forcefully rejected as “a defamatory farce”.
What does the UN report say?
The Commission – an independent three-member body, chaired by Indian judge Srinivasan Muralidhar, who does not speak on behalf of the United Nations – says it has found evidence that “Palestinian children were deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces.” This, he argues, is “one of the key elements in establishing the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the larger Palestinian group in Gaza.” According to the report, which examines violations since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on 7 October 2023, children accounted for around 30% of victims, with at least 20,179 children killed between October 2023 and October 2025. The Commission had already concluded, in a report last September, that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Israel’s response
Israel roundly rejected the findings. The Israeli mission in Geneva called the document “a second defamatory and biased report” and “a defamatory farce”, arguing that “every child deserves protection” and that the text ignores “the brutal tactics of Hamas”, which – according to Israel – operates from densely populated areas. The Jewish State reiterated that it works “to minimize harm to children even in situations of conflict” and rejects “with the utmost firmness” the accusation of deliberately targeting them.
Political reactions in Italy
The report had an immediate echo in the Italian political debate. The president of the 5 Star Movement, Giuseppe Conte, wrote on social media: «Children targeted and killed in the Gaza genocide. We have said and denounced it many times, now this reality also emerges from independent investigations within the UN.” Conte then addressed a series of requests to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, from “economic and commercial sanctions against Netanyahu and his associates” to the cancellation of the “military agreements with Israel”, up to the recognition of the “State of Palestine”. The deputies Riccardo Ricciardi (M5S) and Arturo Scotto (Pd) asked for urgent information from the prime minister to comment on the declarations of the UN Commission.