An international commission of inquiry with a UN mandate accused Israel on Tuesday of “targeting” Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip, and once again denounced “genocide.”

On the occasion of the publication of a new report by this commission, Srinivasan Muralidhar, its president, stated in a statement that "by targeting children, Israel attacks the Palestinian people's ability to exist and determine their future."

Israel, for its part, called the report “defamatory” and accused the commission of “silencing the brutal tactics of the terrorist group Hamas, which mercilessly attacks Israeli children and uses Palestinian children as human shields.”

In September, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, part of the UN Human Rights Council but which does not speak on behalf of that organization, “concluded that genocide is occurring in Gaza.”

Following the publication of that first report, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he saw “growing evidence” of a “genocide” in Gaza.

The team emphasizes in its latest report that it found evidence that “Israeli security forces deliberately targeted and killed Palestinian children,” which it considered a key factor in establishing the “genocidal attempt by Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the largest Palestinian group in Gaza.”

According to the commission, there are “reasonable grounds” to conclude that Israeli authorities and security forces “have continued to commit the crime of genocide” in Gaza.