A UN report accuses Israel of "massacre crime" for its attacks on schools and mosques

Israel has committed war crimes and " massacres "against humanity in Gaza, according to a report by the UN Independent Commission denouncing systematic attacks on schools, universities, mosques and cultural sites. 

The organization's president, former international judge Navi Pillay, has stated that these actions are a campaign to "end life in Gaza"and affect present and future generations.

According to the report, between October 2023 and February 2025, 90 per cent of schools and universities in Gaza were attacked  and half of their religious and cultural sites were destroyed, at least 742 people were killed in educational facilities used as shelters, and more than 800 workers in the education sector were killed.

It also mentions the deliberate destruction of educational infrastructures and the military use of them by Hamas and the Israeli army, including the conversion of part of the Al-Azhar University campus into synagogues and military warehouses.

In the West Bank, the report denounces the attacks on 141 schools, the killings of 96 students and the arrest of hundreds of students and teachers, and warns of attacks and looting of cultural and historical sites, as well as restrictions on access to religious sites such as the Jerusalem Mosque Esplanade.

The Commission will present this 19-page report to the UN Human Rights Council next week.