Israeli forces deliberately targeting children in Gaza: Foreign doctors

Foreign doctors volunteering in Gaza have claimed that they treated over 100 children who had been shot in the head or chest — evidence, they say, that Israeli forces are deliberately targeting minors.

According to a report published in the Dutch daily Volkskrant, 15 out of 17 doctors confirmed encountering children under the age of 15 with single gunshot wounds to the head or chest.

The doctors documented 114 such cases during their missions. Many of the children died, while others sustained critical injuries.

U.S. emergency physician Mimi Syed told Volkskrant that “these are not crossfire injuries, they are war crimes,” noting she personally recorded 18 cases of children shot in the head or chest.

California-based physician Feroze Sidhwa said that at first he thought these were isolated incidents, but after seeing several boys shot directly in the head at one hospital, he realized this was widespread and systematic.

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“This is targeted firing, deliberately hitting children,” he said.

Former Dutch army commander Mart de Kruif also stated that these were not accidents but intentional acts.

Meanwhile, a British news agency reported in August that more than 160 children were either killed or injured by Israeli gunfire, 95 of them with head or chest wounds — pointing to deliberate targeting. Most of the victims were under 12 years old, with cases spanning from October 2023 to July this year.