United Nations experts announced in a report today (Tuesday) that Israel committed a crime against humanity that involves “extermination” by killing civilians who resorted to schools and religious places in the Gaza Strip as part of an organization to erase Palestinian life.
The Independent International Investigation Committee of the United Nations on the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel will submit its report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 17.
“We are witnessing the increasing evidence that Israel is launching an organization to eradicate Palestinian life in Gaza,” said Navi Pelay, former High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations, which heads the committee, in a statement.
She added: “Israel targeting the educational, cultural and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the current generations and future generations and undermine their right to self -determination.”
The committee is working to study attacks on educational facilities and religious and cultural places to assess whether it has violated international law. Israel withdrew from the Human Rights Council in February, claiming that it was biased.
In its latest report, the committee said that Israel destroyed more than 90 percent of school buildings and universities and more than half of the religious and cultural sites in Gaza.
She added, “The Israeli forces committed war crimes, including attacking civilians and intentional killing in their attacks on educational facilities … by killing civilians who resorted to schools and religious sites, the Israeli security forces committed a crime against humanity by genocide.”
The war erupted after gunmen led by Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli statistics indicate that it had killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages to Gaza.
Israel has responded with a military campaign against the Strip, which health authorities in the Strip say have killed more than 54,000 Palestinians.
The report concluded that the damage to the Palestinian educational system was not limited to Gaza, as it pointed to the increasing Israeli military operations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as harassing students and settlers’ attacks there.
The report stated: “The Israeli authorities also targeted workers in the educational field, Israeli and Palestinian students inside Israel who expressed their concern or solidarity with civilians in Gaza, which led to their harassment, separation, or stopping, and in some cases arrests and detention in a degrading manner.”
The committee added: “The Israeli authorities in particular target teachers and students with the aim of deterring women and girls from activity in public places.”
