The world must stop Israel's unprecedented assault on Palestinian children Submitted by Noam Peleg on Thu, 07/16/2026 - 21:07 After nearly three years of genocide, the international community is failing in its duty to protect the most vulnerable An injured child is treated in Khan Younis following Israeli strikes, Gaza, on 24 June 2026 (Bashar Taleb/AFP) Off The UN commission report released last month found that Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children in its ongoing campaign of genocide. It details and demonstrates Israel’s genocidal intent to destroy Palestinians, in whole or in part. The report makes for sobering reading.
It details the slaughter of more than 20,000 Palestinian children, and the wounding of 44,000 others, since Israel’s assault on Gaza began in October 2023. The findings present a damning indictment not just of Israel, but also of the global community that has actively enabled the destruction of a generation by failing to prevent genocide as mandated by international law, and to enforce the International Court of Justice’s set of provisional measures issued in early 2024. The report is grounded in international children’s rights law, which was born in the aftermath of World War I, with the League of Nations adopting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1924.
The declaration recognises children’s vulnerability and imposes obligations on states and the international community to protect them in times of peace and war. For children in Palestine, this promise was never kept - and the basic duty to protect them is breached daily. Children are half of the population in Gaza, and the UN commission’s decision to focus on their legal rights in its analysis of the genocide in Gaza is significant.
Israel’s actions, the report finds, have shown an intent to erase the biological and social continuity of Palestinian society. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The report documents the physical and mental harms inflicted on children, amid repeated displacements, starvation, mass trauma, orphanhood and disabling injuries. Some have been arrested and tortured in Israeli prisons, where they are subjected to sexual violence as part of a process of collective shaming.
Such acts violate their internationally recognised human rights, constituting war crimes, crimes against humanity and democidal acts. The two former world leaders are demanding the international community heap more pressure on Israel to change course.
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