Attacks on Gaza universities are war crimes, inquiry finds

The destruction of Gaza’s schools and universities amounts to war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination, according to a report by an independent international commission into violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law and possible international crimes.

The report is the product of an international commission of inquiry into attacks on cultural, religious and educational sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. It was submitted on 17 June to the United Nations Human Rights Council, which is meeting in Geneva for its 59th regular session.

The commission that conducted the inquiry and produced the report comprised three expert members: Navanethem Pillay (South Africa – chair), Miloon Kothari (India), and Chris Sidoti (Australia).

While the report focuses on attacks and developments that took place on or after the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, it includes incidents and developments that took place before that date, “where they were assessed as relevant in demonstrating patterns of violations over time”.

The report said that in investigated attacks involving educational facilities that caused civilian casualties, Israeli security forces committed the following “war crimes”: (a) directing attacks against civilians; (b) wilful killing (where civilians were killed due to the attacks); and (c) intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack would cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated.

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

The report documented cases where Israeli forces seized and used Gaza's universities as military bases where it found no evidence of Israeli forces’ claims that Hamas had used universities or their vicinity for military activity.

The report also documented cases where the commission could not identify any military objective for the demolition of educational facilities.

Damage to HE institutions

According to the 19-page report, Israeli forces used airstrikes, shelling, burning, and controlled demolitions to damage or destroy more than 90% of school buildings across Gaza.

Higher education facilities were also targeted and destroyed or damaged, affecting about 87,000 university students, it said.

More than 57 university buildings had been completely destroyed, and more than 190 university academic staff were reported killed as of 25 March 2025, it said.

The report pointed out that Israeli security forces carried out the “planned destruction and demolition” of educational facilities in several areas of the Gaza Strip.

“From late October 2023, Israeli security forces systematically expanded the buffer zone on the eastern border of the Gaza Strip, reportedly to prevent future incursions of armed groups into Israel from Gaza. All buildings in that zone, including schools and universities, were destroyed.

“The Nezarim corridor area, separating the north and south of the Gaza Strip, was also subjected to extensive demolition and razing, including of agricultural land, schools and universities,” it said.

No military objectives

The commission could not identify any military objective for the demolitions of educational facilities, including the demolition of Israa University's Al-Zahara campus on 13 January 2024.

In February 2024, Israeli security forces announced that the 162nd Division had discovered a Hamas tunnel network connecting the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital to the Israa University building, the report states.

However, the commission's comparative geospatial analysis of Israeli security forces maps “indicates that the location annotated on the map as Israa was actually Al-Azhar University’s Al-Mughraqa campus, located south of Gaza City, at the edge of the Nezarim corridor, suggesting that the Israeli security forces were trying to justify the demolition of Israa University retrospectively, amid growing criticism of the operation”.

In March 2024, Israeli security forces reportedly claimed that Hamas had used the Israa University and its vicinity for military activity against Israeli security forces. However, the commission found no evidence of that, the report notes.

“Israeli security forces also demolished part of the Al-Azhar University’s Al-Mughraqa campus. The commission established that Israeli security forces had targeted the campus at least three times between 26 October and 7 December 2023.

“On 7 December 2023, Israeli security forces demolished the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences building and the AlRiyadh Auditorium building through controlled demolitions. The commission identified those involved in the demolition as soldiers belonging to the 749th Combat Engineering Battalion,” paragraph 17 of the report states.

No threat to Israeli soldiers

The fact that images and videos depicting Israeli soldiers dancing and freely moving at the site of the demolition and satellite imagery analysis showing cars parked at the site led the commission to “conclude on reasonable grounds that there was no significant threat to Israeli security forces in the area and therefore no military necessity to demolish the university buildings”, the report argues.

It also said that incidents of the demolition of educational facilities were filmed by Israeli soldiers, with footage depicting them expressing “celebratory or demeaning comments and jokes” during or after demolitions.

The report highlights one example in which an Israeli soldier says in Hebrew: “For all those asking why there is no education in Gaza, oops, a missile fell on you; that sucks, too bad. That is how you will not be engineers anymore.”

A caption to the posted video reads: “In the university of the terrorists,” according to the report, which notes that Israeli security forces repeatedly referred to attack sites in statements as “former educational facilities” – a likely attempt, the report suggests, “to absolve the forces from the repercussions surrounding attacks on educational facilities, which are protected sites under international law”.

Military use of Gaza's universities

According to the report, the commission found several instances in which Israeli security forces seized educational facilities for use as military bases or as staging areas for military activity.

The commission verified the Israeli security forces’ seizure of Al-Azhar University’s Al-Mughraqa campus in November 2023 and the forces’ occupation of the campus until 7 December 2023.

It said evidence indicated that Israeli security forces had “used the campus to store munitions, vehicles and other military equipment; that religious services were provided to soldiers in an area of the building that Israeli security forces had transformed into a synagogue with a dedicated plaque; and that a Mezuzah had been fixed on the entrance to the building”.

The report goes on to say that the commission “could not confirm that Israeli security forces occupied the campus beyond 7 December 2023. However, satellite imagery analysed by the Commission indicates Israeli military use of the campus up to 7 February 2024”.

The images indicated, among other things, excavations at the site and the presence of military vehicles, it said.

“The building appears to be largely intact in satellite images viewed on 4 February 2025.

“The Commission observes that several actions, including the establishment of the synagogue, the posting of a Mezuzah and the plaque, together with the fact that the building was not demolished while others were, suggest that Israeli security forces had intended to use the facility for a longer period.

“Moreover, the Commission found that several other bases of the Israeli security forces had been built along the same route at around the same time, further supporting indications that the university had been viewed as one of a series of military bases intended for future use in the Nezarim corridor,” it said.

Impact on Palestinian education

Paragraph 29 of the report states that the destruction of the education system in Gaza is “expected to harm Palestinians for generations to come, with consequent challenges in economic development, work and social abilities”.

It goes on to say that experts have noted that the ongoing situation in Gaza, including the destruction of schools and universities, will set back children's and young person’s education by up to five years.

“Israel’s targeting of the educational, cultural and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the present generations and generations to come, hindering their right to self-determination,” it states.

Paragraph 86 of the report notes that “war crimes” had also been committed by Hamas.

“The Commission has addressed in previous reports the killing and abduction of Israeli children by Palestinian armed groups on 7 October 2023, noting that Israeli children were subjected to physical and emotional mistreatment during the attack and as hostages in Gaza,” the report states.

“The Commission concluded that such acts constituted war crimes and violations and abuses of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The immense trauma from that day, coupled with displacement, disruption to education and insecurity, continues to impact Israeli children in many ways, including through unaddressed post-traumatic stress.”

In February 2025, both the United States and Israel announced their withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The US cited concerns about the council's “chronic bias” against Israel and its failure to address human rights violations by other nations.

The former US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, branded the global body “a cesspool of political bias”. “We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights,” she stated.

A day after US President Donald Trump stopped American engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that Israel was following suit.

“The UNHRC has traditionally protected human rights abusers by allowing them to hide from scrutiny, and instead obsessively demonises the one democracy in the Middle East – Israel,” Sa’ar said.

“This body has focused on attacking a democratic country and propagating antisemitism, instead of promoting human rights.”

The minister said the “discrimination against us is clear”.

He further said that the UNHRC had passed over 100 “condemnatory resolutions” against Israel, a figure amounting to over 20% of all the motions ever passed and more than the total combined resolutions against Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela.

The HRC provides a global forum for governments to discuss human rights concerns and carries out investigations that expose human rights violations worldwide. Its mandate is to contribute to ensuring that states uphold their human rights obligations.

While the UN HRC has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight, and scrutiny can raise global pressure on governments to change course.

Amnesty International Australia strongly condemned the withdrawal of the United States from the UN Human Rights Council, describing it as a “reckless and performative decision that not only weakens global human rights protections but enables impunity for those who commit human rights violations”.

Amanda Klasing, National Director, Government Relations & Advocacy with Amnesty International USA, said: “Announcing that the United States is withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) when it is not even a sitting member, is just the latest move by President Trump to demonstrate to the world his complete and blatant disregard for human rights and international cooperation – even if it weakens US interests.”

The independent international commission of inquiry was tasked with investigating all alleged violations of international humanitarian rights law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel up to and since 13 April 2021.

It was also instructed to investigate the “underlying causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity” and has presented numerous reports to the HRC, which can be accessed here.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas Commander Mohammed Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war.

Israel’s military attack was triggered by the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 240 hostages were seized. According to OCHA, on 4 June, an estimated 58 hostages remain in Gaza.

Hamas said its 7 October attacks were a response to Israel’s continuing military occupation of Palestine and Israel’s continuing construction of illegal settlements in occupied territory, according to Al Jazeera.

As of 18 June, 87,000 tertiary students are left without access to a formal learning space, and 2,308 educational facilities, including universities, have been destroyed during the Israeli military operations in Gaza following the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel and seizure of hostages.

By then the estimated death toll in Gaza stood at 55,637 (including about 8,304 women and 15,613 children) and more than 129,880 people had been injured, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

OCHA also noted that 100% of the analysed population in Gaza (2.1 million) is projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity classified as crises or above and indicated that Israel had kept Gaza crossings closed to food, medical and humanitarian aid since 2 March, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis in the enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is seeking to destroy Hamas and achieve the release of the 58 remaining hostages, Reuters reported. According to the BBC, it is believed that more than half of the hostages still held by Hamas are dead.