Geneva: The Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Navi Pillay, emphasized on Tuesday that the ongoing regional escalation between Israel and Iran should not overshadow the continued violence in Gaza, where hundreds of Palestinians are being killed each week.
According to Kuwait News Agency, Pillay presented her report before the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, declaring, "The goal of the Israeli forces is abundantly clear: the destruction of life in Gaza." She described the conflict, now in its 20th month, as "the most ruthless prolonged and widespread attack against the Palestinian people since 1948." Pillay highlighted that in the last three months, the entire population of Gaza had been forcibly relocated into "small enclaves," resulting in many Palestinians being killed while attempting to receive aid, marking the "bleakest point of life in the territory to date." She noted the severe impact on children, with over 1,300 children killed since the ceasefire ended on March 18, and more than 15,000 identified as killed since October 2023. Each child's death, she stressed, represents a lost past, present, and future.
Pillay confirmed that the Commission has been investigating the continuous violence in Gaza over the past 18 months, which has seen constant escalation and increasing civilian casualties. The violence has also extended to southern Lebanon, Yemen, and now Iran.
The report submitted to the Council focused on attacks against educational, religious, and cultural sites in the occupied Palestinian territory. It found that, alongside killing thousands of children, Israeli forces destroyed Gaza's educational infrastructure, with more than 90 percent of schools and university buildings damaged or destroyed, making education inaccessible for children.
Pillay explained that Israeli airstrikes targeted facilities thought to be safe havens, resulting in the deaths of displaced civilians, including women and children. Schools and universities were deliberately shelled and demolished, with the Commission finding no military necessity for these attacks, concluding that their intent was to deny Palestinians access to education in the long term.
She underscored that such actions form part of a "widespread and relentless assault" against the Palestinian people, with Israeli forces committing war crimes, including "direct attacks on civilians and willful killings," and crimes against humanity, such as extermination.
The Commission's report also documents damage to over half of Gaza's religious and cultural sites as part of a broader campaign targeting civilian infrastructure. Pillay emphasized that religious sites, which served as places of refuge, were deliberately targeted, resulting in hundreds of fatalities.
"These practices deny Palestinians their historical ties to the land," Pillay stated, urging all States to act decisively to end the violence and halt the atrocities.