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Israeli army has committed crimes against humanity, say UN investigators

Gaza: crimes against humanity against schools and religious sites
"We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is conducting a concerted campaign to wipe out the lives of Palestinians in Gaza", said Navi Pillay. Keystone-SDA

The Israeli army has committed crimes against humanity of extermination by targeting civilian refugees in schools and religious sites, according to UN investigators. They denounced on Tuesday in Geneva a desire to affect the next "generations".

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“We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is conducting a concerted campaign to wipe out the lives of Palestinians in Gaza”, said Navi Pillay, President of the International Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Israel has used air strikes, bombings, arson and destruction on 90% of schools and universities, says the report by the three investigators, who are not speaking on behalf of the UN.

+ Swiss foreign ministry staff ‘shocked’ by Cassis Gaza stance

“Significant evidence” of the use of schools and religious sites for military purposes, including the conversion of a university into a synagogue for troops, was also obtained.

The same criticism was levelled at the military wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas in a school, the report added.

Translated from French by DeepL/ts

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