Top UN court to begin hearings on Israel’s aid obligations

THE HAGUE

The top United Nations court on April 28 will begin hearing from 40 countries on what Israel must do to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Last year, the U.N. General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to weigh in on Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, voted against the resolution.

Israel over a month ago again cut off all aid to Gaza and its over 2 million people. Israel has disputed that there is a shortage of aid in Gaza, saying that it is entitled to block the aid because it says Hamas seizes it for its own use.

The Hague-based court has been asked to give an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally definitive answer, in the latest judicial proceedings involving Israel and the 18-month war in Gaza. That is expected to take several months.

In the hearings regarding Israel's ban on UNRWA, dozens of countries, including Türkiye, will make presentations, along with the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the African Union and the United Nations.

Türkiye’s presentation, to be delivered by a Foreign Ministry delegation, will begin on April 30.

The U.N.'s World Food Program said on April 25 it had depleted its food stocks in war-ravaged Gaza, where Israel has blocked all aid for more than seven weeks.

After 18 months of war, the situation in Gaza "is probably the worst" it has been, the U.N.'s humanitarian office has said, with the head of the world body's Palestinian refugee agency decrying the aid stoppage on as "politically motivated starvation.”

Most recently, hospitals in the Gaza Strip received the remains of 51 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours, the local Health Ministry said Sunday, bringing the Palestinian death toll from the 18-month-old war to 52,243.

Set up in the aftermath of World War II, the ICJ is an organ of the U.N. and adjudicates disputes between countries. Certain U.N. bodies, including the General Assembly, can request advisory opinions from the court’s 15 judges.

All 193 U.N. member states are members of the ICJ, though not all of them automatically recognize its jurisdiction.

Last year, the court issued an unprecedented and sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the occupied Palestinian territories, finding Israel’s presence unlawful and calling for it to end.

The U.N. General Assembly sought the opinion after a Palestinian request. The ICJ said Israel had no right to sovereignty in the territories, was violating international laws against acquiring territory by force and was impeding Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

In another case, South Africa went to the court last year to accuse Israel of genocide over its actions in the war in Gaza.