A new 94-page United Nations report, chaired by Justice Muralidhar, gives a detailed look at how the Gaza genocide has affected Palestinian children. The report says that more than 20,000 children have been killed, tens of thousands have been injured, and many schools have been destroyed. It also…
Just read these words and think: 20,000 children were murdered. 20,000 children were killed. Now ask yourself this honest question. Did these words stop you? Do those words stop you? Or have such statistics become so commonplace that they don't affect the heart? If not, then perhaps the greatest tragedy isn't just happening in Gaza. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that we have become numb and have learned to tolerate it. Every time another child is killed, we express anger and regret. Then the news cycle changes. The headlines change, and the children become mere statistics. Last week, Justice Muralidhar presented these figures to the world before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. As chair of the UN's Independent Commission of Inquiry, he presented a report that is perhaps the most detailed investigation ever conducted. About what this war has done to Palestinian children. The Commission has released a 100-page report documenting violence and crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian children. This was an official report of the UN Commission, created by the Human Rights Council, whose purpose was to investigate violations of international law. In the next few minutes, we will tell you about some of the key findings of this report. There is much in it that is difficult to listen to, but even more difficult to ignore. This report is 94 pages long. But its most important point is summed up in just one sentence: The essence of childhood has been destroyed. The very meaning of childhood has been destroyed . According to the Commission, from October 2023 to October 2025, more than 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed. We have witnessed more than 20,000 children who have been killed and more than 44,000 injured. And more than 44,000 children have been injured. Thousands are still missing or buried under rubble, and 97%of Gaza's schools are either destroyed or severely damaged, and this continued even after the ceasefire. The Commission documented child deaths in the months following the ceasefire. The Commission Found Indisputable Evidence with Regard to the Deliberate Targeted Killing of Palestinian Children, Including Since the October 2025 Ceasefire. Many of these deaths occurred along a shifting military border known as the Yellow Line, but the Yellow Line was more than just a name. In November 2025 , two brothers, aged 10 and 9, were collecting firewood for their father near Khan Younis. Their father was in a wheelchair and needed firewood for the house when an Israeli drone struck. Both brothers were killed on the spot. Israeli security forces later said they saw two suspects crossing the yellow line and moving toward the army. Therefore, they were targeted as an immediate threat. However, the Commission found that the children were more than 300 meters away from the soldiers 'rifles. How could two children, aged 10 and 9, be an immediate threat from such a distance? Addressing the Council, Justice Muralidhar said the Commission found evidence that pointed to a clear pattern: that Palestinian children were deliberately targeted. The Commission stated that these were not isolated incidents but a repeated pattern for which accountability must be established under international law. The Commission Found Indisputable Evidence with Regards to the Deliberate Targeted Killing of Palestinian Children, Including Since the October 2025 Ceasefire. One story in this report made headlines worldwide. Indira , 52, was trapped in a car with her family, surrounded by bullets. For hours, she pleaded with the emergency dispatcher on the phone, begging for help. She described her injuries and the gunfire around her. An ambulance was sent to rescue her, but it never reached her. The bodies were found 12 days later. The Commission states that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both Hind's family and the rescue team were deliberately targeted. But Hind Raza's story was not an isolated incident. The report documents numerous similar cases . Children trying to reach safety were shot. Schools, hospitals, and shelters were targeted. Thousands of children lost their arms and legs. They were permanently disabled, and many of those who survived are living with, or will continue to live with, lifelong psychological trauma. So, who is this person who is presenting the utterly brutal truth of the Gaza genocide to the United Nations? This is nothing new for Justice Muralidhar. In India, he has been one of the judges who delivered several crucial judgments. He was part of the verdict convicting Sachin Kumar in the 1984 Anti-Pokhra case, even though decades had passed since those riots. He also reopened the Hashimpura Massacre case, and police officers who had been left unpunished for years were finally punished. And in February 2020, when his court questioned the police during the Delhi riots about why action was not taken against inflammatory speeches, he was transferred. Today, three years after his retirement, the same judge is reporting to the UN Human Rights Council about what he found in Gaza. The Commission has released a 100-page report documenting violence and crimes committed by Israel against Palestinian children in the occupied Palestinian territory. Since October 7, 2023, until March 31, 2026, in his final statement, he told the council, "Even if the bombs and guns for Gaza and the West Bank remain silent, senior children will not simply recover overnight." But Justice Muralidhar's remarks don't end there. In a recent interview with The Indian Express, he said, "If we don't act on the evidence against Israel, we can't redeem ourselves." The question isn't just about Gaza. The question is also, what do we do after knowing everything? Wars aren't fought solely with weapons. They are fueled by politics, business, and money. The graphic you see is based on research by the Campaign Against Arms Trade, which used Israeli customs data reported by Al Jazeera. According to this research, between October 2023 and October 2025, 51 countries supplied military goods to Israel. The United States was the largest supplier, and India came in second. Economy of Genocide and So There Have Been People and Organizations That Have Profited from the Violence, the Killing, the Memoing, the Destruction in Gaza and in Other Parts of the Occupied Policies and Territories. Your opinion on this may differ. But perhaps none of us can escape one question. The next time you buy something or choose a brand that is accused of being linked to this war, just stop for a moment and think, if those children were your own children, would you still say, "My choices don't matter?"
Companion article
The report at the centre of this explainer comes from the United Nations' Independent Commission of Inquiry, created by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations of international law in the occupied Palestinian territory. It runs to nearly 100 pages and covers the period from 7 October 2023 to 31 March 2026. Its chair, Justice Muralidhar, presented its findings to the Council in Geneva.
The narrator says the report's central point can be reduced to one sentence: the essence of childhood has been destroyed. The Commission's numbers are stark. Between October 2023 and October 2025, it reports, more than 20,000 Palestinian children were killed and more than 44,000 injured. Thousands more are still missing or believed buried under rubble. The video adds that 97 per cent of Gaza's schools have been destroyed or severely damaged, and that the report documents children who lost limbs and were permanently disabled, with lifelong psychological trauma expected among survivors.
The explainer opens by asking whether such figures still register. Statistics, the narrator suggests, become commonplace, the news cycle moves on, and children turn into numbers.
One of the findings the video stresses is that child deaths did not stop with the October 2025 ceasefire. The Commission documented killings in the months that followed, many of them along a shifting military boundary known as the Yellow Line. The narrator quotes the Commission's statement that it found "indisputable evidence" of the deliberate, targeted killing of Palestinian children, including since the ceasefire.
The report's illustrative case is set in November 2025. Two brothers, aged 10 and 9, were collecting firewood near Khan Younis for their father, who uses a wheelchair, when an Israeli drone struck and killed both. Israeli security forces later said they had seen two suspects crossing the Yellow Line and moving toward the army, and treated them as an immediate threat. The Commission found that the boys were more than 300 metres from the soldiers' rifles. The narrator's question is a simple one: how could two children of that age pose an immediate threat from that distance?
Justice Muralidhar told the Council, in the video's account, that the evidence pointed to a clear pattern rather than isolated incidents, and that accountability had to be established under international law.
The video also revisits the case of Hind, which it says made headlines worldwide. She was trapped in a car with her family, surrounded by gunfire, and for hours pleaded by phone with an emergency dispatcher. An ambulance was sent but never reached her. The bodies were found 12 days later. The Commission states that there are reasonable grounds to believe both her family and the rescue team were deliberately targeted.
According to the narrator, Hind's story is not an outlier. The report documents numerous comparable cases: children shot while trying to reach safety, and schools, hospitals and shelters that were struck.
The explainer takes time to introduce its central figure to an Indian audience. Justice Muralidhar, it notes, is a retired Indian judge whose earlier judgments made news at home. It credits him with a bench that delivered a conviction in a case arising from the 1984 riots, decades after the violence, and with reopening the Hashimpura massacre case, after which police officers who had gone unpunished for years were held to account. In February 2020, during the Delhi riots, his court questioned the police on why no action had been taken against inflammatory speeches, and he was transferred soon afterwards. Three years after his retirement, the video says, he is now reporting to the UN Human Rights Council on Gaza.
In his closing remarks to the Council, as the narrator relays them, he said that even if the guns and bombs fall silent, children will not simply recover overnight. In a recent interview with The Indian Express, the narrator adds, he said: "If we don't act on the evidence against Israel, we can't redeem ourselves."
The final section widens the lens from the battlefield to the supply chain. The narrator cites research by the Campaign Against Arms Trade, based on Israeli customs data reported by Al Jazeera. According to that research, 51 countries supplied military goods to Israel between October 2023 and October 2025. The United States was the largest supplier and India, the video says, came second.
The video also plays a statement describing an "economy of genocide", in which people and organisations have profited from the violence, killing, maiming and destruction in Gaza and elsewhere in the occupied territories. The narrator acknowledges that viewers' opinions on this may differ.
The video closes with a direct appeal rather than a conclusion: the next time a viewer buys something or chooses a brand accused of being linked to the war, they should pause and ask whether they would still say their choices do not matter if those children were their own.
This companion piece reports the findings as presented in the video and attributed there to the UN Commission; readers who want the full evidentiary basis should consult the Commission's report itself.
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