(Kaieteur News) – A United Nations Commission of Inquiry has issued one of its strongest condemnations yet of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, concluding that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Israeli forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children as part of a broader strategy aimed at destroying the future of the Palestinian people.

In a sweeping report spanning more than 350 findings, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, alleges that Israel’s military operations since October 7, 2023, have inflicted catastrophic and often irreversible harm on Palestinian children through killings, maiming, starvation, attacks on hospitals and schools, mass arrests, torture and the destruction of essential civilian infrastructure.

The Commission said the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 20,179 Palestinian children while another 44,143 have been injured, describing the scale of suffering as unprecedented.