Dutch newspapers reported that medical personnel returning from Gaza said Israel deliberately targeted children who were fired by snipers and drones.

Foreign doctors who volunteered in Gaza said they treated more than 100 children shot in the head or chest, with clear evidence that Israel deliberately targeted minors.

In Dutch Daily VolkskrantOf the 17 doctors, 15 doctors described encountering children under the age of 15 with a single bullet injury to the head or chest. Together, they identified 114 such cases during their mission in Gaza. Many children die, while others survive devastating harm.

“This is not a firefight. These are war crimes,” Mimi Syed, an emergency physician in the U.S., told Volkskrant. She recorded 18 children shooting in the head or chest.

California-based trauma surgeon Feroze Sidhwa told the newspaper he initially thought the cases were isolated until he met multiple boys at a hospital and shot directly in the head. Later, when he compared his notes to other international doctors, he realized that it was broad. “It’s a targeted fire. Someone is triggering it to the kids,” he said.

Forensic pathologists consulted by Volkskrant reviewed the X-ray and confirmed that the wound was consistent with a long-range sniper or a drone fire, rather than shrapnel in the explosion. Former Dutch Army commander Mart de Kruif said the huge number of children shot in the head or chest made the “accident” claim incredible.

“This is not collateral damage. It was intentional,” he said.

“Deliberately targeting children”

This is not the first time that an investigation has found Israel was deliberately targeting children.

In August, the BBC World Service revealed more than 160 cases of children shooting at Gaza by Israeli forces. Doctors said that in 95 of these cases, the children were hit in the head or chest – injured, and undoubtedly, they did it on purpose.

According to the BBC survey, most victims are under the age of 12. The events have been extended from October 2023 to the opening week of the war in July this year.

The Israeli military denied that it was intentional against children.

However, in a report released in December A generation has been wiped out: Children in Gaza are on the cross of genocide, Palestine Human Rights Center (PCHR) says Israel is committing genocide against children in Gaza

The group said Israel intentionally killed children, causing serious physical and mental harm and forcing them into conditions designed to destroy them.

PCHR director Raji Sourani said Israel’s strategy has made children most victims. “The attacks by Israeli occupation forces were intentionally targeted by strike residential areas and shelters, killing most of the children,” he said.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, Israel has killed nearly 20,000 children since the war began on October 7, 2023.

average 28 children because Israeli military operations According to the United Nations, it has restrictions on urgently needed humanitarian assistance.

At least 21,000 children are warUnited Nations Commission on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Report September.