In late June, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel published a report acknowledging that, as part of the acts of genocide which Israel is perpetrating in Gaza, they are deliberately targeting children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The same commission concluded in a different report last year that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza (C.N.N.). The new report outlines how Israeli military forces have been deliberately targeting and killing children, and as a result, “the essence of childhood has been destroyed.” The Commission highlights that targeting children is essential to proving the genocidal intent with which Israel has been treating Palestinians since 7 October 2023.
The Commission found that Israel is inflicting severe physical, mental, and emotional traumas on children through torture, orphanhood, destruction of their homes and schools, imprisonment, starvation, and more. The systematic destruction of houses and infrastructure in Gaza has forcibly displaced families time and again, and children are unable to create roots or return to their homes. Moreover, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner Human Rights states that Israeli military forces have employed sexual violence against children “as part of the collective shaming and oppression, entrenched within a prolonged, ethnic, gendered, and intergenerational pattern of Israeli occupation and hostilities.”
This report is valuable in its existence as proof of Israel’s intentional destruction of the Palestinian people, the textbook definition of genocide. Reports such as this can act as powerful evidence should Israeli officials Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant ever be arrested under their International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) warrants and face a judge. Genocidal intent is historically difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt; however, these two commission reports bring together evidence which makes a strong case for a genocide of the Palestinian people at the hand of Israel.
Regardless of the value of this report as evidence, little can be done until Israeli officials are brought before a body of justice. Despite the fact that I.C.C. arrest warrants were issued for the Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister in November 2024, no country has taken action to arrest these individuals. Every signatory of the Rome Statute, the I.C.C.’s foundational document, has a responsibility to take custody of alleged international criminals while in their territory. However, historically these individuals are insulated from arrest due to politics and a lack of enforcement from international bodies. Without the defendants’ presence in the court, they can not be tried.
International organizations and bodies of justice are taking steps to call for an end to violence in Gaza and a peaceful future for the Palestinian people. With multiple recognitions of genocidal acts by the Israeli military forces, soon high-ranking officials may have to answer for their orders. It is too soon to say if any serious change will come from this commission’s findings; however, the awareness and attention that they are creating may prove a powerful catalyst.
