Hyderabad, Nov. 13 -- Navi Pillay, an 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and former United Nations human rights chief, has defended a UN report that accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

In an interview with Israeli newspaper Haaretz at her home in Durban, South Africa, Pillay said the report was based on evidence of mass killings, destruction of homes and damage to services needed for people to survive.

Pillay led the UN Commission of Inquiry that published the report in September 2025. The commission said around 75,000 Palestinians had been killed and that homes, hospitals, schools, farms and fishing facilities had been destroyed.

It also questioned whether the scale of destruction matched Israel's stated aims of defeating...