LOC19:15
16:15 GMT
GENEVA, June 17 (KUNA) -- The Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem Navi Pillay stressed on Tuesday that the ongoing regional escalation between Israel and Iran must not divert attention from the continued massacres in Gaza, where hundreds of Palestinians are still being killed each week.
Delivering her report before the 59th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Pillay said "The goal of the Israeli forces is abundantly clear: the destruction of life in Gaza." She underscored that this war now entering its 20th month constitutes "the most ruthless prolonged and widespread attack against the Palestinian people since 1948."
Pillay noted that in the past three months alone, the entire population of Gaza was forcibly transferred into "small enclaves", with many Palestinians killed while trying to receive aid, marking what she described as the "bleakest point of life in the territory to date."
She warned that children have paid an "unimaginable price" in this conflict. Since the end of the ceasefire on March 18, over 1,300 children have been killed and more than 15,000 have been identified as killed since October 2023. "These are not just intolerable numbers," she emphasized. "Each child killed represents a past, present and future that will no longer exist.
Pillay confirmed that over the past 18 months, the Commission has investigated the continuous violence in Gaza, which has seen constant escalation and increasing civilian casualties, adding that violence has also expanded to southern Lebanon then Yemen and now Iran.
The report presented to the Council focused on attacks against educational religious and cultural sites in the occupied Palestinian territory and found that while Israeli occupation forces killed thousands of children, they also destroyed Gaza's educational infrastructure. "More than 90 percent of schools and university buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed," rendering education impossible for children.
Pillay explained that Israeli occupation airstrikes targeted facilities believed to be safe havens, killing displaced civilians including women and children. Schools and universities were deliberately shelled, burned and demolished. The Commission found no military necessity to justify these attacks and concluded that their intent was to deprive Palestinians of access to education in the long term.
She stressed that these actions were part of a "widespread and relentless assault" against the Palestinian people, during which Israeli occupation forces committed war crimes including "direct attacks on civilians and willful killings," as well as 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 stressed that religious sites that served as places of refuge were deliberately targeted, killing hundreds.
"These practices deny Palestinians their historical ties to the land," calling on all States to act resolutely to end the slaughter and stop the atrocities. (end)
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