A displaced Palestinian boy looks through a tear in a tent wall, in Gaza City, May 6, 2026. Photo: file/Reuters
President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday called on influential countries and the international community to impose a “significant cost” on Israel for crimes against Palestinian children and prevent a repeat of crimes revealed in a recent United Nations investigation.
Israeli authorities and security forces deliberately targeted Palestinian children, leading to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, as well as war crimes in the occupied West Bank, the independent UN investigation said on Tuesday. The report of the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel examines violations against Palestinian children since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023.
About 30% of those killed in the Gaza conflict were children, according to the report. The UN commission said Palestinian children had been deliberately targeted and killed during the war, including after a ceasefire came into effect in October 2025. It said this was a key element demonstrating the genocidal intent of Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the Palestinian group, in whole or in part, in Gaza.
In response to the investigation’s findings, the president said in a message on X that he was “deeply disturbed.”
“The reported killing of more than 20,000 children is a stain on our collective conscience. Pakistan strongly condemns these atrocities and calls for immediate accountability.
“The international community, and especially influential countries, must impose a significant cost on Israel for these crimes and take effective measures to prevent their recurrence,” the president said.
He also called for an end to violence and the protection of Palestinian children in accordance with international law.
President expresses deep concern over UN findings on Gaza
“I am deeply disturbed by the findings of the independent United Nations International Commission of Inquiry, which concluded that Palestinian children in Gaza were deliberately targeted, resulting in unprecedented losses…
– The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) June 25, 2026
Child deaths
The report reveals that the proportion of children killed was higher than in previous conflicts. Between October 7, 2023 and October 7, 2025, at least 20,179 children were killed, approximately 30% of the total number of deaths. For comparison, during hostilities in Gaza in 2008-2009 and 2014, children accounted for around 24% of conflict-related deaths, the report said.
Israeli forces continued to use high-payload munitions and wide-area weapons in densely populated residential areas, despite increasing child casualties, the commission said. “This indicates that such attacks, which killed so many children, were intentional,” he added.
Read: Dutch report documenting Israeli shooting of Palestinian children in Gaza wins European Press Prize
According to her, children were collectively targeted because Israeli security forces considered the civilian population as a whole to be associated with Hamas and other armed groups.
The conditions imposed by Israel on Gaza, including widespread attacks, repeated displacement and starvation caused by the blockade of aid, food and medicine, have seriously harmed the health and development of children, leading to preventable deaths and injuries, the report said.
Learn more: UNICEF calls Gaza ceasefire a ‘deadly illusion’
The investigation also found that attacks on health and reproductive facilities have impacted the survival of newborns and reported an increase in miscarriages, and that almost all children in Gaza are believed to need psychological support.
