Israeli actions in Palestinian territories constitute war crimes, Human Rights Council hears

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The ongoing crises in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Sudan are in the spotlight this week at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva.

“The goal of the Israeli government is abundantly clear: the destruction of life in Gaza.”

That’s how Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, opened her statement to the 59th session of the Council on Tuesday.

Calling the war in Gaza “the most ruthless, prolonged and widespread attack against the Palestinian people since 1948,” Ms. Pillay addressed the findings of the Commission’s report, released to the HRC on 6 May.

Attacks on educational facilities in Gaza

It found that 90 per cent of Gaza’s schools and universities have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks – including airstrikes, shelling, burning and controlled demolitions.

“With the loss of education, Palestinians are also losing their source of stability, hope and possibility of a future,” said Ms. Pillay.

By not issuing adequate warnings to civilians sheltering inside, these attacks caused extensive casualties, amounting to war crimes, including knowingly launching attacks that caused excessive and disproportionate civilian harm, and the crime against humanity of extermination.

The Commission found no military necessity to justify the destruction of schools, concluding that the intent was to restrict long-term Palestinian access to education.

Notably, while Israeli forces often claimed they were targeting Hamas operatives allegedly based in schools, the Commission verified only one instance of Hamas using a school for military purposes, compared to the systematic Israeli use of schools as military bases.

Education restrictions in the West Bank

Ms. Pillay also warned that education in the West Bank remains under threat. Demolition orders, military raids, restrictions, and operations have significantly reduced school days, while settler violence has endangered students and teachers. The Israeli government has either incited or failed to prevent such violence, she said.

Attacks on religious and cultural sites

In Gaza, Israeli forces have damaged 53 per cent of religious and cultural sites.

Many were being used for refuge or worship, causing further civilian casualties, constituting war crimes and, in some cases, the crime against humanity of extermination.

This completely avoidable damage “has a cascading effect and deeply affects intangible cultural elements, such as religious and cultural practices, memories and history, undermining the identity of Palestinians as a people,” said Ms. Pillay.

Because Israeli forces should have known where these sites were and planned their assaults accordingly, the Commission found these acts constituted war crimes including intentionally targeting historic and religious sites and widespread destruction without military necessity.

Seizure of cultural heritage sites in the West Bank

In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Commission documented repeated cases of Israeli authorities or settlers seizing cultural heritage sites, displacing Palestinians, excluding non-Jewish history and restricting Palestinian access.

The report highlights increasing restrictions and assaults on Palestinians at Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, a long-standing flashpoint in East Jerusalem.

Ms. Pillay argued that through these actions, “Israel has been using cultural heritage and settlements as leverage for its unlawful territorial claims in the occupied West Bank, in flagrant defiance of multiple United Nations resolutions and the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).”

These actions violate international law, including the right to cultural life, freedom of religion, and protection of cultural heritage.

Recommendations

Ms. Pillay concluded her speech by underscoring that Israel’s attacks on education, infrastructure and heritage sites aim to “erode Palestinians’ historical ties to the land and weaken their collective identity, thereby hindering their right to self-determination” and the possibility of a peaceful, sustainable two-State solution.

Accordingly, the Commission calls for Israel to end the unlawful occupation and enable Palestinian self-determination; stop attacks and seizures of educational, religious and cultural sites; end the systematic erasure of Palestinian history; and comply fully with international law, including the 2024 ICJ ruling.

Sudan’s war intensifies amid starvation, rights probe warns

Meanwhile in Sudan, heavy fighting continues to escalate as a “direct result” of the continued flow of arms into the country meaning that the war is far from over, top independent human rights investigators said on Tuesday, ahead of briefing the Human Rights Council.

In an update on the emergency in the northeast African nation, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan highlighted the increased use of heavy weaponry in populated areas – and a sharp rise in sexual violence.

“Many Sudanese are dying from hunger and especially those who have been detained and in detention – they are dying and millions affected,” said Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Expert Member of the Fact-Finding Mission.

“In terms of international responsibility, we urge all States to respect and enforce the arms embargo of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1556,” she added.

Humanitarian relief continues to be weaponized and hospitals and medical facilities remain under siege, warned the investigators, whose mandate was established by the Council in October 2023.

© UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

Two young women carry water at a site for displaced people in eastern Sudan.

Direct link

“There is a direct link between the flow of arms in Sudan, armed hostilities and the resulting violence amounting to violations of international humanitarian law and human rights violations,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission.

“We know the kind of arms that are being used: heavy artillery, modern warfare, drones and in fact, they have escalated.”

Fellow investigator Mona Rishmawi insisted that testimonies gathered pointed to “both sides” continuing to commit war crimes – a reference to the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which turned on each other in April 2023, following a breakdown in transition to civilian rule.

Around El Fasher, for instance, civilians have been “assaulted, detained and killed while villages have been attacked, burned and looted” by the RSF. During one RSF attack from 10 to 13 April, more than 100 civilians were reportedly killed, while a SAF bombing in Al Koma killed at least 15 civilians.

Now into its third year, the war has killed tens of thousands of civilians so far, displacing over 13 million Sudanese and subjecting many more to sexual violence, looting and the destruction of homes, health facilities, markets and other infrastructure. 

Crimes against humanity continue, “particularly in the context of persecution of certain ethnic groups”, Ms. Rishmawi insisted.

The result of restrictions to aid relief has been to drive famine, “especially in Darfur”, said the investigators, who are respected human rights experts and not UN staff.

In their latest update to the Human Rights Council, the investigators documented a sharp rise in sexual and gender-based violence, with women and girls subjected to rape, gang rape, abduction, sexual slavery and forced marriage, mostly in RSF-controlled displacement camps.

About UN experts

The members of both the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council.

They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.