ICJ hears Israel using starvation as weapon in Gaza crisis

Palestinian envoy tells UN court that the Israeli army is killing civilians and attacking aid workers

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators in front of the Peace Palace in The Hague on Monday. EPA

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A Palestinian diplomat has told the UN's top court that Israel is killing and displacing civilians and attacking aid workers in Gaza in a “man-made catastrophe of unprecedented proportions”.

Ammar Hijazi was speaking on Monday at a hearing at the International Court of Justice into Israel’s legal obligations to enable aid into the occupied territories. Israel responded by accusing the court of being "politicised".

Mr Hijazi said Israel was blocking humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza as a “weapon of war”. “Starvation is here,” the ambassador to The Hague said at the start of a week of hearings. “All UN-supported bakeries in Gaza have been forced to shut their doors. Nine of every 10 Palestinians have no access to safe drinking water.

“Storage facilities of the UN and other international agencies are empty.”

He claimed the case was about Israel "destroying the fundamentals of life in Palestine".

Palestine's UN envoy Riyad Mansour accused Israel of using the blockade on humanitarian supplies to entrench its occupation of Palestinian land.

"From the 18-year blockade over Gaza, to nearly 1,000 military checkpoints and obstacles to access and movement in the West Bank, to attempts to sever East Jerusalem from its Palestinian environment, Israel systematically created our dependency on aid and then deliberately deprived us of this aid," he said.

Ammar Hijazi, right, ambassador and permanent Palestinian representative to The Hague, at the opening day of a hearing at The International Court of Justice. Reuters

The UN’s legal counsel accused Israel of breaking international law, saying it 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.

Pressuring Israel into adhering to international law would allow Palestinians to receive the aid they need, said Mr Mansour. "Which begs the question, why do Palestinians need assistance to begin with? Israel annexes our land, it kills, dispossess and displaces to destroy our people. It steals our resources and revenues. It fragments our territory. It severely restricts our movement and access."

Months before ruling

The ICJ is holding a week of hearings before delivering a non-binding “advisory opinion”. The court will probably take months to rule. Experts say the decision, though not legally binding, could profoundly impact international jurisprudence, international aid to Israel and public opinion. The court believes it carries “great legal weight and moral authority”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the hearings part of a “systematic persecution and delegitimisation” of his country. Speaking in Jerusalem as the hearings began in The Hague, Mr Saar said the court was “becoming completely politicised”. He called the proceeding “shameful”.

Dozens of countries and organisations will address the 15-judge panel in a marathon set of hearings.

Judges will consider Israel's legal obligations towards the UN and its agencies, international organisations or third-party states to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population”.

Israel denies deliberately attacking civilians and aid staff and is not participating in the hearings, but its ally the US will take part on Wednesday.

Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The hearings open as the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is nearing collapse. Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since March 2. It renewed its bombardment on March 18, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages. Despite the increased Israeli pressure, ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked.

The hearings gave particular focus to the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). An Israeli law banning the agency came into effect this year, hindering its activities despite the soaring needs of Palestinians. Palestine argued the ban was a breach of Israel's obligations under the UN Charter.

"Given UNRWA’s unmatched ability to provide relief schemes and to do so at scale to the Palestinian population, there can be no doubt that Israel is obligated to facilitate and expand the agency’s vital work rather than attack and sabotage it," said Ardi Imseis, an international law expert representing Palestine.

More than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homeland during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Many of their descendants in the region are educated and cared for by UNRWA. Hatem Kamaleldin Abdel Kader, Egypt's Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for International Legal Affairs and Treaties, said there was "no substitute to UNRWA" until a sovereign Palestinian state was established.

Egypt echoed Palestinian concerns about forced displacement. "Israel’s total war is a means to achieve a far more insidious end – the removal of Palestinians from their land and their extermination under the fog of war," said Jasmine Moussa, a legal adviser of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

The World Food Programme said last week its food stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel’s nearly eight-week-old blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the enclave. Many families are struggling to feed their children.

The UN estimates 500,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the two-month ceasefire ended in March.

The UN has asked the ICJ to rule “with the utmost urgency” on the case, but it will probably take several months to reach its opinion.