Palestine: Children
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for its policies of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel’s report of 18 June 2026, including its conclusions on page 79.
Answered by Mr Hamish Falconer
The impact of the conflict in Gaza on children is a moral outrage, and the allegations in this report that children were deliberately targeted by Israeli forces are deeply alarming. International law is clear that children must always be protected, and their rights upheld, and any violation of those principles must be treated with the utmost seriousness.
On the issue of genocide, the UK's longstanding position remains that any formal judgment as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent national or international court, which has come to a reasoned conclusion after consideration of all the evidence available, in the context of a credible judicial process.
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