By Atoyebi Nike
A United Nations inquiry panel has concluded that Israeli military actions in Gaza — including assaults on schools and sacred sites — amount to war crimes and may constitute the crime of extermination.
The findings, released on Tuesday by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, state that Israel has demolished much of Gaza’s educational infrastructure and destroyed more than half of the region’s religious and cultural landmarks.
The commission said Israeli forces deliberately struck civilian shelters housed in schools and places of worship. These attacks, it argued, go beyond battlefield misconduct and rise to the level of extermination — a crime against humanity.
Although the deliberate destruction of educational and cultural facilities alone is not defined as genocide, the report suggests such actions may indicate intent to eliminate a specific group.
The investigators called on the Israeli government to immediately halt attacks on Gaza’s religious, cultural, and academic institutions. They also demanded a full end to what they described as the unlawful occupation of Palestinian territories and a stop to all settlement expansion.
The commission further urged Israel to comply with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) earlier provisional orders, which called for the prevention of incitement to genocide and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Though the report primarily focuses on Gaza, it also addresses incidents across the broader Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and parts of Israel where civilian casualties were documented.
This latest report adds to growing international scrutiny of Israel’s actions amid the ongoing conflict, with human rights advocates pressing for accountability under international law.
