Top UN court to rule on Israel’s obligations to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians
THE HAGUE: The top United Nations court is set to give an opinion Wednesday on Israel’s legal obligations to ensure desperately needed humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.Advisory opinions carry significant legal weight and experts say the case could have broader ramifications for the UN and its missions worldwide.
A ceasefire to consider
The proceedings predate the current fragile US-brokered Gaza ceasefire agreement, which took effect on Oct. 10, and aims at ending the two-year war in the Palestinian enclave.
Though still in effect, the shaky truce was tested earlier this week after Israeli forces launched a wave had killed two soldiers. Under the agreement, 600 humanitarian aid trucks are to be allowed to enter daily.
The UN has announced plans to ramp up aid shipments into Gaza. On Monday, Hamas chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya told Egypt’s Al-Qahera News that Israel has complied with aid deliveries per the ceasefire agreement.Advisory opinions issued by the UN court are described as “nonbinding” as there are no direct penalties attached to ignoring them. However, the treaty that covers the protections that countries must give to UN personnel says that disputes should be resolved through an advisory opinion at the ICJ and the opinion “shall be accepted as decisive by the parties.”
The UN General Assembly asked for the ICJ’s guidance in Dec. 2024 on “obligations of Israel … in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations … to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population.”We cannot let states pick and choose where the UN is going to do its work. This advisory opinion is a very important opportunity to reinforce that,” Mike Becker, an expert on international human rights law at Trinity College Dublin, told The Associated Press ahead of the hearings in April.
During the hearings in April, Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi told the 15-judge panel that Israel was “starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives.”