Israel must make it easier for aid to enter Gaza, the International Court of Justice said Wednesday, emphasizing that it must give Palestinians the “basic needs” to survive.
The broad ICJ decision, which Israel swiftly rejected, was made as humanitarian organizations rushed to expand desperately needed aid into Gaza, taking advantage of a tenuous ceasefire that had been reached earlier this month.
The ICJ considers the “Advisory Opinion” of the UN’s highest court to have “great legal weight and moral authority,” even though it is not legally enforceable.
“This is a very important decision. And I hope that Israel will abide by it,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.
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 in Gaza.
The ICJ ruled that Israel had not substantiated the allegations.
Israel did not take part in the proceedings and hit back at the findings.
“Israel categorically rejects the ICJ’s ‘advisory opinion,’ which was entirely predictable from the outset regarding UNRWA,” foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein posted on X.
“This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of ‘International Law.'”
Iwasawa stated that the ICJ “rejects the argument that the request abuses and weaponises the international judicial process” .
Israel “cooperates with international organizations, with other UN agencies regarding Gaza,” according to a second Israeli source. However, Israel refuses to work with UNRWA.
Norway announced that it would put forth a resolution to the UN General Assembly calling on Israel to remove limitations on aid to Gaza within hours of the verdict.
Additionally, Ammar Hijazi, the Palestinian delegate to the ICJ, pleaded with countries to make sure Israel abides by the court’s ruling in order to allow aid into Gaza.
“The responsibility is on the international community to uphold these values and oblige Israel, bring Israel into compliance,” he told reporters.
Before the ruling, Abeer Etefa, Middle East spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), said 530 WFP trucks had crossed into Gaza since the ceasefire started on October 10.
The 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, well below the 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.
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