Israel guilty of extermination in attacks on Gaza schools and cultural sites says UN
Israeli attacks on Gaza’s education and cultural infrastructure amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination, a UN investigation body has said.
The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, published its findings in a new report on Tuesday.
It found that Israeli air strikes, shelling, burning and controlled demolitions had damaged or destroyed more than 90 percent of schools and university buildings across the Gaza Strip.
That destruction has made it impossible for 658,000 children in Gaza to have an education over the past two years.
“We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, chair of the commission.
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“Israel’s targeting of the educational, cultural and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the present generations and generations to come, hindering their right to self-determination.”
The report said Israeli forces had committed war crimes, “including directing attacks against civilians and wilful killing, in their attacks on educational facilities that caused civilian casualties”.
It also documented cases in which Israeli forces used educational buildings as military bases.
One example cited was the conversion of al-Azhar University’s al-Mughraqa campus into a synagogue for Israeli troops.
It reported one instance of Hamas fighters using a school for military purposes.
'Deeply impacted intangible culture'
The report found that over half of Gaza’s religious and cultural sites had been damaged or destroyed, including places where civilians had sought refuge.
Israeli forces either knew or should have known the cultural significance of such sites, but failed to prevent harm, the commission found.
The report included Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, where authorities appropriated, developed and profited from cultural heritage sites representing Palestinian, Jewish and other cultures, while displacing Palestinian residents.
“Attacks on cultural and religious sites have deeply impacted intangible culture, such as religious and cultural practices, memories and history,” said Pillay.
“The targeting and destruction of heritage sites, the limiting of access to those sites in the West Bank and the erasure of their heterogenic history erode Palestinians’ historical ties to the land and weaken their collective identity.”
The commission called on Israel to immediately cease attacks on educational and cultural institutions, end occupation and settlement activities, and comply with international law.
The report will be officially presented to the UN Human Rights Council on 17 June.
Israel withdrew from the council earlier this year, accusing it of being biased against Israel.
In March, the commission accused Israel of committing “genocidal acts” by destroying reproductive healthcare facilities in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded at the time by labelling the council “an anti-Semitic, corrupt, terror-supporting, and irrelevant body”.
According to Palestinian health and government officials, since October 2023, at least 54,927 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces, of whom 28,000 are women and girls.
Amongst those killed are at least 1,400 health sector workers, over 300 UN aid workers, and more than 220 journalists.
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