Published On 4/11/2025
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Last update: 23:08 (Mecca time)
Among the thousands of bombs that fell – and are still falling – on Gaza, there is one missile that does not escape Navi Pillay’s mind: a shell fired by the Israeli occupation forces at the fertility clinic (Al-Basma) in December 2023. One strike “annihilated in an instant 4,000 fetuses” in that clinic.
This was stated in a statement by Navi Pillay, former head of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel, in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, in which she explained that this strike was “intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza.”
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In her speech, Pillay added that this clinic was located in a separate building from the rest of the hospitals in the medical complex, and the hospital was not targeted, despite the constant pretext that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is hiding in hospitals.
Intentionally killing fetuses
She said that the Israeli army went directly to the building where the embryos were stored, and targeted the nitrogen tanks that were keeping them alive.
Pillay cites this incident not as the only one, but as an example among “a large number of incidents” that led her committee to reach the conclusion that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
Pillay said that the committee she headed provided, in its numerous reports, carefully documented accounts of the course of the war in Gaza, the massive destruction caused by Israeli bombs on Palestinian children, and the targeting of the health and educational systems in the Strip.
Pillay: The international community cannot remain silent regarding Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza
The silence of the world is complicity
Pillay said at the launch of the UN committee’s report in Geneva: “The international community cannot remain silent regarding the campaign of genocide launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. When clear evidence of genocide emerges, refraining from taking action to stop it means complicity in it.”
But the report, she adds, did not receive the expected response. Silence still prevails.
She also says, “It is the legal duty of states to stop genocide, prevent it from occurring, and protect people from it. Why were these obligations not implemented? We should have heard from them about the measures they took and the laws they enacted. This is a major and very serious crime.”
There is no justification for genocide
She adds that international law does not accept any justification for genocide: “There is no justification for self-defense or necessity in this context. The prohibition on genocide is absolute.”
According to the Guardian report, Pillay believes that what distinguishes this genocide is that the entire world is witnessing it directly: “Many ask me: Why are you talking about genocide now? We know, we have seen it with our own eyes on our screens. This is a genocide that is happening in the present time, in front of the whole world.”
She says that what is happening reminds her of the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, when Hutu political leaders called for the “extermination of vermin.”
She pointed out that the Israeli Defense Minister at the time, Yoav Galant, announced in 2023 the imposition of a complete siege on Gaza, saying that Israel was fighting “human animals.”
An investigation is similar to the work of a court
Pillay confirms that her committee did not make its dangerous decision regarding the genocide classification except after careful investigations that lasted more than two years, stressing that everything stated in that report “we verified it ourselves,” adding that they were working in a manner similar to the courts, “but until the International Court of Justice issues a ruling – where the case is currently being presented – we are the most credible voice in this matter.”
Regarding Gaza today, Pillay says that she welcomes the truce agreement brokered by President Donald Trump, despite its fragility, but she stresses that it is not a real peace agreement because it does not address the essence of the conflict, which is the occupation, and does not give the Palestinians a seat in the settlement negotiations.
The Palestinians cling to their land
The Guardian said that Pillay draws hope from her country’s experience – South Africa’s experience with the apartheid regime – and from other conflicts that seemed intractable and then found a way to a solution: “I believe in the possibility of achieving a just and lasting peace. Most importantly, civilians living under bombardment also believe in this. They cling to their land and to their love for the future of their children. Their dreams are no different from ours.”
Pillay concludes her speech in the interview by saying, “Those responsible for the crimes committed must be held accountable. The international system failed to prevent genocide in more than two years, and it cannot now grant its perpetrators immunity. People want justice and accountability, and justice is not real unless it is comprehensive for everyone.”