A damning new UN report has accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestine’s educational, cultural, and religious institutions in a campaign that amounts to war crimes and genocide. Released in Geneva by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the report paints a grim picture of systematic destruction aimed not only at lives, but at Palestinian identity itself.

In Gaza, more than half of all schools and universities have been obliterated. Over 650,000 children have been denied access to education for nearly two years. Beyond the physical devastation, the report documents chilling acts: soldiers mocking education before reducing classrooms to rubble, turning parts of Al-Azhar University into military outposts, and even converting spaces into synagogues for soldiers, a blatant violation of international law.

The West Bank and East Jerusalem have seen a parallel assault. Students face daily harassment at checkpoints, while settler violence and demolitions have disrupted learning for more than 800,000 pupils. Those showing solidarity with Gaza, whether students or teachers, have faced detention, dismissal, or public humiliation. Women and girls have been especially targeted to deter their role in public and academic life.

Cultural and religious heritage has not been spared. Israeli strikes have destroyed or damaged over half of Gaza’s sacred sites, killing hundreds in the process. These attacks, the report stresses, are not collateral damage, they are calculated moves to erase a people’s history, memory, and right to belong.