The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has opened a five-day block of hearings into whether Israel is meeting its obligations to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza following the Knesset’s ban on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).
The case was referred to the court by the UN General Assembly, which voted to do so by a margin of 137 to 12 to do so in December.
The resulting resolution called on the ICJ to deliberate on whether the ban on Unrwa operating within Israeli territory, including a prohibition on the government cooperating with the agency, violated Israel’s obligation as a signatory to the UN Charter and an “occupying power” to provide humanitarian aid to Gazans.
Israel has long disputed the suggestion that it has occupied Gaza and has not held governmental authority in the Strip since 2005.
The hearings will also examine whether Israel breached the immunities afforded to UN agencies by banning Unrwa.
The flow of aid into Gaza is tightly restricted by Israel and has been completely cut off several times during the latest war in the territory, sparked by the Hamas terror attacks on October 7, 2023.
Israel is not attending the hearings but has submitted a written defence, the contents of which are not year public.
However, an idea of its objections have been provided by a paper produced by UK Lawyers for Israel in regard to the case, which argued that Israel had the right to unilaterally terminate its agreement with Unrwa and to determine which agencies act within its sovereign territory.
It also suggested that Israel can deliver aid in whichever manner it chooses so long as its humanitarian obligations are met and is not required to do so through Unrwa.
It should be noted that any ruling issued by the ICJ in the case will be advisory only and not be legally binding on Israel. A previous ruling last year declaring Israel’s occupation of the West Bank unlawful has largely gone unheeded in Jerusalem, which heavily disputed the court’s neutrality and capacity to rule on such cases.
The Netanyahu government has long claimed that Unrwa has been infiltrated by Hamas, even alleging that some of its workers took part in the October 7 attacks.
This assertion was seemingly strengthened by the allegations from former Hamas hostages that they had been held in Unrwa facilities, as well as the IDF’s repeated discovery of weapons at former Unrwa sites.
Just yesterday, the military released an image of a Hamas weapons cache that it had reportedly discovered near a school in Rafah – the arms had apparently been hidden in Unrwa aid bags marked as wheat flour.
It comes as the World Food Programme confirmed it had run out of food stocks in Gaza due to the ongoing blockade of crossing points.
Israel insists their is no aid shortage in Gaza and claims that any shortfall in supplies is the result of Hamas stealing aid to use for military purposes.
