Gaza Herald – A growing body of testimony from international doctors who have worked in Gaza points to a chilling pattern: Israel is systematically targeting children. Accounts from medical volunteers, forensic experts, and human rights organizations collectively depict a war being waged against the most vulnerable.
Foreign doctors who volunteered in Gaza told the Dutch daily Volkskrant they treated more than 100 children shot in the head or chest, injuries they say leave no doubt that minors are being deliberately targeted. Out of 17 doctors interviewed, 15 reported encountering children under 15 with single bullet wounds to the head or chest. Together, they documented 114 such cases during their missions in Gaza. Many of the children died instantly, while survivors face lifelong disabilities.
“This is not crossfire. These are war crimes,” said American emergency physician Mimi Syed, who documented 18 cases herself. California trauma surgeon Feroze Sidhwa initially thought such incidents were isolated until he treated several boys in the same hospital, each shot directly in the head. Comparing notes with colleagues, he realized the pattern was widespread. “This is targeted fire. Someone is pulling a trigger on a child,” he said.
Forensic pathologists consulted by Volkskrant examined X-rays and confirmed that the wounds were consistent with sniper or drone fire rather than shrapnel from explosions. Former Dutch army commander Mart de Kruif said the sheer number of children shot in the head or chest, claimed “accidents” is indefensible. “This is not collateral damage. It is intentional,” he said.
This is not the first time evidence has emerged of Israel deliberately targeting children. In August, a BBC World Service investigation uncovered more than 160 cases of children in Gaza shot by Israeli forces, 95 of them in the head or chest. Most were under 12 years old.
The Israeli military has denied intentionally targeting minors, but reports from human rights groups paint a starkly different picture. In December, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) published Generation Wiped Out: Gaza’s Children in the Crosshairs of Genocide, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Gaza’s children by killing them, inflicting severe physical and psychological harm, and forcing them into unlivable conditions.
Raji Sourani, the group’s director, said children have become the majority of victims. “The Israeli occupation forces’ attacks have deliberately targeted children by striking residential areas and shelters, rendering children the majority of fatalities,” he explained.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, nearly 20,000 children have been killed since October 7, 2023. The United Nations estimates that 28 children are being killed daily due to Israeli bombardment and the blockade preventing humanitarian relief. In addition, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reported that at least 21,000 children have been left disabled in the war.
The testimonies from doctors, reinforced by human rights investigations, present a devastating truth: Gaza’s children are not accidental victims but deliberate targets. The mounting evidence places an urgent moral and legal burden on the international community not only to recognize these acts as war crimes, but to act decisively to hold Israel accountable for crimes against humanity.
