Israel's Gaza aid blockade contested in World Court hearings
A demonstrator stands beside a placard outside the International Court of Justice as an interrogation on Israel's humanitarian obligations towards Palestinians takes place at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague on April 28, 2025.
Photo:
LINA SELG
By
Bart Meijer
, Reuters
UN and Palestinian representatives at the International Court of Justice accused Israel of breaking international law by
refusing to let aid into Gaza
, on the first day of hearings about Israel's obligations to facilitate aid deliveries.
Since 2 March, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and
food stockpiled
during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.
At the opening of the hearings at the UN's top court, the UN's legal counsel said Israel had a clear obligation as an occupying force to allow and facilitate humanitarian aid for the people in Gaza.
"In the specific context of the current situation in the occupied Palestinian Territories, these obligations entail allowing all relevant UN entities to carry out activities for the benefit of the local population," Elinor Hammarskjold said.
Palestinian representative Ammar Hijazi said Israel was using humanitarian aid as "a weapon of war", while people in Gaza were facing starvation.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had submitted its position in writing to the hearings, which he described as a "circus".
Speaking in Jerusalem on Monday, Saar said the court was being politicised, while the UN was failing to root out employees of its Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA who are members of Gaza militant groups.
"They are abusing the court once again to try and force Israel to cooperate with an organisation that is infested with Hamas terrorists," Saar said. "The goal is to deprive Israel of its most basic right to defend itself."
The UN said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in Hamas' 7 October, 2023 assault and had been fired. Another Hamas commander, confirmed by UNRWA as one of its employees, was killed in Gaza in October, according to Israel.
The ICJ, also known as the World Court, was tasked in December to form an advisory opinion on Israel's obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and international groups, including the United Nations.
Israel has repeatedly said it would not allow the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza until Hamas releases all remaining hostages. It has accused Hamas of hijacking humanitarian aid, which the militant group denies.
"This case is about Israel destroying the fundamentals of life in Palestine, while it blocks the UN and other providers of humanitarian aid from providing life-saving aid to the population," Hijazi, the head of the Palestinian mission to the Netherlands, told the hearing.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said he had pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into Gaza. Germany, France and Britain last week called to allow the unhindered passage of humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian territory.
Advisory opinions of the ICJ carry legal and political weight, although they are not binding and the court has no enforcement powers.
After the hearings, the World Court will likely take several months to form its opinion.
- Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
37 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
NZ joins allies in banning Israeli politicians over Gaza remarks
New Zealand has placed a travel ban on two 'extremist' Israeli politicians over their comments about the war in Gaza. The Government has banned ultra-nationalists Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli security minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, the finance minister, from entering New Zealand in a joint decision with the UK, Australia,
NZ Herald
20 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg reaches Israeli port
A Gaza-bound aid boat reached Israel's Ashdod port on Monday after being intercepted by Israeli forces, preventing the dozen activists on board, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, from reaching the blockaded Palestinian territory. An AFP photographer said that the Madleen, which organisers said was intercepted in international waters overnight, reached
Scoop
20 hours ago
- Scoop
Guterres Calls For An End To Ocean ‘Plunder' As UN Summit Opens In France
With the Mediterranean glittering in the background, UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres opened the Third United Nations Ocean Conference on Monday, delivering a blunt indictment of humanitys fractured relationship with the sea. ' The ocean is the ultimate shared resource,' he told delegates gathered at the port of Nice. 'But we are failing it.' Oceans, he warned, are absorbing 90 per cent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions and buckling under the strain: overfishing, rising temperatures, plastic pollution, acidification. Coral reefs are dying. Fish stocks are collapsing. Rising seas, he said, could soon 'submerge deltas, destroy crops, and swallow coastlines — threatening many islands' survival.' Call for stewardship More than 50 Heads of State and Government took part in the opening ceremony, including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — a show of political force underscoring the summit's weight. In total, over 120 countries are participating in the five-day gathering, known by the shorthand UNOC3, signaling a growing recognition that ocean health is inseparable from climate stability, food security, and global equity. French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country is co-hosting the summit alongside Costa Rica, followed with a forceful appeal for science, law, and multilateral resolve. 'The abyss is not for sale, any more than Greenland is for sale, any more than Antarctica or the high seas are for sale,' he declared. 'If the Earth is warming, the ocean is boiling.' He insisted the fate of the seas could not be left to markets or opinion. 'The first response is therefore multilateralism,' Mr. Macron said. 'The climate, like biodiversity, is not a matter of opinion; it is a matter of scientifically established facts.' Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles took the podium next, thanking Mr. Guterres for elevating the ocean on the global agenda, then shifting to a stark warning. 'The ocean is speaking to us — with bleached coral reefs, with storms, with wounded mangroves,' he said. 'There's no time left for rhetoric. Now is the time to act.' Condemning decades of treating the ocean as an 'infinite pantry and global waste dump,' Mr. Chaves urged a shift from exploitation to stewardship. 'Costa Rica is a small country, but this change has started,' he said. 'We are now declaring peace with the ocean.' Most notably, the Costa Rican leader called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining in international waters until science can adequately assess the risks — a position already backed by 33 countries, he noted. A treaty within reach One of the summit's core objectives is to help bring into force the landmark High Seas Treaty — known as the BBNJ accord — adopted in 2023 to safeguard life in international waters. Sixty ratifications are required for the treaty to become binding international law. Emmanuel Macron announced that this milestone is now within reach. 'In addition to the 50 or so ratifications already submitted here in the last few hours, 15 countries have formally committed to joining them,' he said. 'This means that the political agreement has been reached, which allows us to say that this [Treaty] will be properly implemented.' Whether the legal threshold is crossed this week or shortly after, the French President added, 'it's a win.' High-stakes negotiations in the 'Blue Zone' The tone set by the opening speeches made clear that Nice will be the stage for high-stakes negotiations — on finalising a global treaty on plastic pollution, scaling up ocean finance, and navigating conflicting opinions surrounding seabed mining. Hundreds of new pledges are expected to be announced, building on more than 2,000 voluntary commitments made since the first UN Ocean Conference in 2017. The week-long talks will culminate in the adoption of a political declaration and the unveiling of the Nice Ocean Action Plan, a blueprint aligned with the landmark Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a 2022 agreement to protect 30 per cent of marine and terrestrial ecosystems by 2030. 'The deep sea cannot become the Wild West,' António Guterres warned. The summit is being held in a purpose-built venue overlooking Port Lympia, Nice's historic marina, now transformed into the secured diplomatic 'Blue Zone.' On Sunday, a symbolic ceremony led by Li Junhua, head of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Secretary-General of the conference, saw the French and UN flags raised above the harbor. 'This ceremony marks not only the formal transfer of this historic port into the hands of the United Nations, but also the beginning of a week of shared commitment, responsibility, and hope,' said Mr. Li. Culture, science, and collective memory Before the negotiations began in earnest, Monday's opening turned to ritual and reflection. Polynesian climate activist Ludovic Burns Tuki marked the start of the summit by blowing a pu, a traditional conch shell. 'It's a way to call everyone,' he told UN News after the ceremony. 'I blow with the support of our ancestors.' In Polynesian navigation, the conch is sounded upon arrival at a new island to signal peaceful intent. Mr. Tuki, born in Tahiti to parents from the Tuamotu and Easter Islands, sees the ocean as both boundary and bond. 'We are not only countries,' he said. 'We need to think like a collective system, because this is one ocean, one people, a future for all.' The cultural segment also included a blessing by Tahitian historian Hinano Murphy, a martial arts performance by French taekwondo master Olivier Sicard, a scientific reflection by deep-sea explorer Antje Boetius, and a poetic testimony by Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, accompanied by kora musician Wassa Kouyaté. What was lost can return The goals of the Conference are ambitious but clear: to advance the ' 30 by 30 ' pledge, promote sustainable fisheries, decarbonise maritime transport, and unlock new streams of 'blue finance,' including ocean bonds and debt-for-nature swaps to support vulnerable coastal states. In addition to plenary sessions, Monday will feature two high-level action panels: one on conserving and restoring marine ecosystems — including deep-sea habitats — and another on strengthening scientific cooperation, technology exchange, and education to bridge the gap between science and policy. In his opening statement, António Guterres stressed that Sustainable Development Goal 14, on 'Life Below Water', remains the least funded of the 17 UN global goals. 'This must change,' he said. 'We need bold models to unlock private capital.' 'What was lost in a generation,' he concluded, 'can return in a generation. The ocean of our ancestors — teeming with life and diversity — can be more than legend. It can be our legacy.'
