Killing infants by paranoid tyrants to eliminate their perceived future enemies is a recurring theme in both mythology and history, across time and space. The surprisingly similar narratives of King Herod’s attempts to kill the infant Jesus in the Christian tradition and King Kamsa attempting to murder the infant Krishna in the Hindu tradition serve as profound archetypes of human cruelty, state power and existential fear. In both stories, the powerful, insecure rulers receive prophesies that a newborn child will grow up to overthrow their regimes or bring about their ends. Driven by intense paranoia, Herod and Kamsa embark upon a frenzied attempt to kill the infants to eliminate their perceived threats. Herod orders the slaughter of all male infants in Bethlehem and its vicinity (the Massacre of the Innocents). Kamsa orders his demons, notably Putana, to systematically kill all male newborns across the kingdom of Bhoja.

A United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice S Muralidhar, former Chief Justice of Orissa, has now revealed shocking details of deliberate and selective mass killing of Palestinian children by Israeli forces in the ongoing war. It has been found that at least 20,179 Palestinian children were killed between October 2023 and October 2025, accounting for nearly 30% of all fatalities. Over 44,000 children were injured. The landmark report found evidence of systemic attacks on schools, hospitals, and orphanages. It detailed instances of snipers, drone strikes, and the torture of minors in detention. According to the report, the destruction of children's health, education, and development is irreversible, and it concluded that these systemic actions constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The Israeli actions also constituted the 1948 UN Convention against Genocide. Israel refused to cooperate with the inquiry despite the Commission’s 13 requests for information and access, and has since issued an 18-page rebuttal accusing the Commission of bias.

Israel’s atrocities against Palestinian children are ironic because the Jewish children were the worst victims of the most barbaric cruelties perpetrated by Nazi Germany under Hitler. About 1.5 million children were among the six million Jews butchered by the barbaric regime of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Among those exterminated in mass during the Holocaust in concentration camps like Auschwitz were not just Jews but also ethnic minorities like the Roma and disabled children.

A summary of the report titled “The essence of childhood has been destroyed” mentioned the deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children, including post-ceasefire,........

© Mathrubhumi English