ICJ says Israel must allow UN aid deliveries to Gaza to meet basic needs

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel has a legal obligation to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by the UN and its agencies to ensure that the basic needs of Palestinian civilians there are met.

Advisory opinion from the UN’s highest court He also said Israel had not proven its claims that the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) was not impartial or that a significant number of its staff were members of Hamas or other armed groups.

The UN chief said he hoped Israel would comply with the “very important decision”.

However, Israel rejected the ICJ’s opinion as “political” and insisted it would not cooperate with Unrwa, whom it had banned.

The opinion is not binding but carries significant moral and diplomatic weight.

In December, the UN General Assembly asked the ICJ for an opinion on Israel’s obligations as an occupying power and UN member to UN agencies and other international organizations operating in the occupied West Bank, including Gaza and East Jerusalem.

This came after the Israeli parliament passed laws banning any activities by Unrwa on Israeli territory and contact with Israeli officials.

The ICJ was also asked to include in its opinion Israel’s duty to allow the unimpeded delivery of essential supplies to Palestinian civilians.

Israel tightened its blockade on Gaza after the start of its war with Hamas two years ago and has since restricted and at times completely stopped the flow of food and other aid to its 2.1 million population.

Before this month’s ceasefire deal came into force, UN-backed global experts had warned that more than 640,000 people faced catastrophic food insecurity and that there was a “totally man-made” famine in Gaza City.

Israel rejected the famine declaration, arguing that sufficient food was allowed.

ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa read his advisory opinion in The Hague on Wednesday.

He said the panel of 11 international judges agreed that Israel must fulfill its obligations under international humanitarian law as an occupying power.

The first obligation, according to the judge, was “to ensure that the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory has the resources necessary for daily life, including food, water, clothing, beds, shelter, fuel, medical supplies and services.”

The second was to “accept and facilitate aid schemes with all means at its disposal, as long as insufficient support was provided to the population in the occupied Palestinian Territory, as in the Gaza Strip”.

Other obligations listed included respecting prohibitions on forcible transfer from an occupied territory and the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.

Judge Iwasawa said the panel was also of the view that Israel “has an obligation to cooperate in good faith with the United Nations by providing all assistance in any action it undertakes in accordance with the United Nations Charter.” [Unrwa]”.

He added that Israel is also obliged to ensure “full respect for the privileges and immunities granted to the United Nations and its officials” as well as “the inviolability of United Nations facilities and the immunity of the property and assets of the organization from all interference.”

“This is a very important decision. I hope that Israel will comply with it,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said when asked about the advisory opinion in Geneva. he said.

He added that the advisory opinion comes at a time when the UN is doing everything it can to increase aid delivery to Gaza and deal with the “tragic situation” there.

Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the advisory opinion and that it was “completely foreseeable from the outset regarding Unrwa.”

“This is another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of ‘international law’,” the statement said.

The ministry also said that Israel fully fulfills its obligations under international law and “will not cooperate with an organization imbued with terrorist activities.”

Unrwa, the largest humanitarian organization in Gaza with 12,000 Palestinian staff, has repeatedly rejected Israeli claims that it is deeply infiltrated by Hamas, which has been banned as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Britain and other countries.

Israel said Unrwa personnel took part in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages to Gaza, and claimed that the agency still employs more than 1,400 “Hamas agents.”

The UN said last year that it had fired nine of Unrwa’s staff in Gaza after investigators found evidence that they may have been involved in the October 7 attack. 10 more personnel were acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

Judge Iwasawa said the information the ICJ received “was not sufficient to establish that Unrwa was not impartial” and did not prove Israel’s “allegations that a significant number of Unrwa’s employees were ‘members of Hamas or other terrorist groups.'”

Since Israeli laws banning Unrwa came into force in January, the organization says its Palestinian staff has continued to provide aid, education, health and other services to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

But the agency says it has banned Israel from bringing aid to Gaza and has stopped issuing visas to Unrwa’s international staff.

Unrwa said that at least 309 of its personnel and 72 people supporting the agency’s activities have been killed since the beginning of the war in Gaza. The region’s Hamas-run health ministry says a total of at least 68,229 people have died in Israeli attacks during the conflict.

Sam Rose, Unrwa’s acting Gaza director, told the BBC the agency welcomed the advisory opinion because it “underlines Israel’s obligations under international law”.

“Today’s decision says that Israel’s laws and actions on the ground against Unrwa are contrary to these obligations,” he said.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said the advisory opinion “makes it very clear that Israel must put an end to these illegal policies and that states have an obligation to bring Israel into compliance with its obligations in this regard.”

“Israel must immediately lift the unlawful ban on Unrwa and allow all other international organizations invited by Palestine to operate freely and safely.”