The International Court of Justice said Wednesday that ‘Israel’ was obliged to ease the passage of aid into Gaza, stressing it had to provide Palestinians with “basic needs” essential to survival.
The wide-ranging ICJ ruling came as aid groups are scrambling to scale up much-needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza, seizing upon a fragile ceasefire agreed earlier this month.
The ICJ’s “Advisory Opinion” is not legally binding but the court believes it carries “great legal weight and moral authority”.
ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa said ‘Israel’ was “under an obligation to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities”.
That included UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which ‘Israel’ has banned after accusing some of its staff of taking part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war.
The ICJ ruled that ‘Israel’ had not substantiated those allegations.
‘Israel’ did not take part in the proceedings but an official told journalists before the hearing that it was “an abuse of international law”.
The official added that ‘Israel’ “cooperates with international organizations, with other UN agencies regarding Gaza. But ‘Israel’ will not cooperate with UNRWA”.
Iwasawa said the ICJ “rejects the argument that the request abuses and weaponizes the international judicial process”.
On the eve of the ICJ ruling, Abeer Etefa, Middle East spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), said 530 of the organization’s trucks had crossed into Gaza since the ceasefire.
Those trucks had delivered more than 6,700 tonnes of food, which she said was “enough for close to half a million people for two weeks”.
Etefa said around 750 tonnes a day were now coming through, which, although more than before the ceasefire, remains well below WFP’s target of around 2,000 tonnes daily.
The ICJ said that ‘Israel’, as an occupying power, was under an obligation “to ensure the basic needs of the local population, including the supplies essential for their survival”.
At the same time, ‘Israel’ was “also under a negative obligation not to impede the provision of these supplies”, the court said.
The court also recalled the obligation under international law not to use starvation as a method of warfare.
Source: AFP
