Court also found that Israel had a duty not to impede supply of aid by UN organisations including Unrwa
Court also found that Israel had a duty not to impede supply of aid by UN organisations including Unrwa
Israel must allow aid into Gaza, and its restrictions on doing so over the past two years have put it in breach of its obligations, the UN’s top court has found.
The stinging advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in The Hague also found that Israel had a duty not to impede the supply of aid by UN organisations including the beleaguered UN Palestinian relief agency Unrwa, which has been in effect banned from the territory since January.
The court found Israel had not produced adequate evidence to justify ending cooperation with Unrwa on the basis it was not a neutral organisation under the Geneva conventions.
The court instead found the organisation was the backbone of all humanitarian assistance in the area, requiring Israel to cooperate with the organisation in good faith.
The ruling that Israel has violated the UN’s immunities as set out in the UN charter, as well as ignored its humanitarian obligations as an occupying power under the Geneva conventions is bound to lead to further calls for Israel’s suspension from the UN.
It is also possible that some countries will now claim that the UN secretary general António Guterres should seek damages from Israel for breaching the immunities of UN staff premises and entities inside occupied Palestine, by bombing them and ending cooperation with Unrwa. Israel has paid compensation in one previous case nearly 40 years ago.
Israel dismissed the ICJ findings. In a message on social media platform X, Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the court’s findings and added: “Israel fully upholds its obligations under international law.”
The ICJ ruling came in the form of an advisory opinion after a request from the UN general assembly in December prompted by Israel’s parliament in October ending all cooperation with Unrwa claiming the organisation had been irrevocably infiltrated by Hamas in Gaza. Unrwa rejects that claim, and the ICJ found that Israel hadn’t “substantiated the allegations”, ICJ president, Yuji Iwasawa said.
The ICJ findings – including an assertion that the humanitarian position inside Gaza remained catastrophic and massive casualties had occurred – took well over an hour to read and were mostly agreed by 10 votes to one by the Judges.
