Israel has ‘concerted policy to destroy Gaza healthcare system’: Independent UN report

UN Interviews

The Chairperson of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, on Wednesday presented the commission's latest investigative report to the UN General Assembly.

Navi Pillay and her UN Human Rights Council-appointed team found that Israel has carried out a policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault; committed war crimes, and deliberately attacked medical personnel and facilities.

The report goes on to conclude that Israel – and Palestinian armed groups – are responsible for torture and sexual and gender-based violence, and that Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, detained and tortured medical personnel.

Ahead of her briefing to the General Assembly, Conor Lennon from UN News sat down with Ms. Pillay in the UN News studios, and he started by asking her to recall a particularly harrowing case mentioned in the report: the killing of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl, and her extended family, as well as the paramedics who tried to rescue her.