UN experts accuse Israel of 'extermination' in Gaza attacks on schools, religious sites

The accusation comes as Israel continues its attacks on the Gaza Strip, with dozens reported killed in another shooting at an aid facility in central Gaza.

10.06.2025

The New Arab Staff & Agencies

Source:https://www.newarab.com/news/un-experts-accuse-israel-extermination-gaza-attacks

A panel of UN experts has accused Israel of committing acts of "extermination" in its war on Gaza, as dozens more Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours in the attacks on the enclave.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory accused Israel of deliberately targeting educational facilities, cultural and religious sites across the enclave in acts that amount to war crimes.

The commission said that "Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 2023 have effectively destroyed the education system", adding that this included the attacks on educational facilities, seizing them for military purposes, and their intentional demolition.

"Furthermore, the Commission finds that, in killing civilians sheltering in schools, Israeli security forces committed the crime against humanity of extermination."

The commission found that Israeli military attacks on culturally significant sites in the enclave were part of a systematic attack against the civilian population and also amounted to the crime of extermination.

"While the destruction of cultural property, including educational facilities, is not in itself a genocidal act, evidence of such conduct may nevertheless infer genocidal intent to destroy a protected group," the commission added.

Navi Pillay, chair of the three-person Commission, said: "We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza."

Israel's war on Gaza, which has been ongoing since October 2023, has prompted numerous accusations of genocide by NGOs, genocide scholars, and states, with the International Court of Justice in The Hague presiding over a case on the allegations.

The commission called on Israel to abide by the provisional measures set out by the court in 2024 that aimed to prevent Israel from breaking its obligations under the genocide convention.

The report comes as Israel continues its onslaught on the enclave, deepening a dire humanitarian situation that includes warnings of mass starvation in the enclave.

On Tuesday, 20 Palestinians were killed and over 124 injured after Israeli forces fired on crowds waiting for aid at a distribution centre south of the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, according to Al-Jazeera, citing medical sources at the al-Quds hospital.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the incident, according to Reuters.

The attack is the latest in a series of mass killings at aid distribution centres operated by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation since the operation began following a two-month Israeli siege, which accompanied the forced cessation of UN-backed humanitarian operations.

Israeli strikes were also reported in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis, with three killed according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Five people were also killed in the al-Da'wa area in the central Gaza Strip, the agency added, with three Palestinian paramedics also being killed in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City.

Israel's war on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 people, injured a further 126,615 people, and has left the enclave uninhabitable.