ICJ says Israel must allow UNRWA to operate in Gaza

World Court warns Israel against using starvation as a weapon after it targeted UN aid agencies

Palestinian children play near the UNRWA headquarters in Gaza city. AFP

The top United Nations court has said that Israel was obliged to ease the passage of aid into Gaza, including operations by UNRWA.

In an advisory opinion issued on Wednesday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel, as the occupying power, was under an obligation to ensure the basic needs of the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Occupied Territories were met, including providing everything they need to survive.

ICJ president Yuji Iwasawa said Israel was “under an obligation to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities including UNRWA”.

He added that Israel's military occupation of Gaza during the two year war had increased its responsibilities "significantly".

The court also reminded Israel of its obligation under international law not to use starvation as a method of warfare.

It ruled that Israel has not stood up allegations that members of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, also worked for the Hamas group it is fighting in Gaza. “UNRWA cannot be replaced on short notice and without a proper transition plan,” Mr Iwasawa said.

International Court of Justice president Yuji Iwasawa delivers the advisory opinion on Israel's obligations in Gaza. Reuters

The advisory opinion is non-binding and Israeli officials are likely to ignore it.

"Israel categorically rejects the ICJ’s advisory opinion, which was entirely predictable from the outset regarding UNRWA," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

"This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of International Law," it wrote on X.

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini welcomed the ruling. The agency has "huge amounts" of food and other supplies on standby in Egypt and Jordan and "has the resources and expertise to immediately scale up the humanitarian response in Gaza", he said.

Aid shortage

The wide-ranging ICJ ruling came as aid groups are scrambling to scale up much-needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza, seizing upon a fragile ceasefire agreed on earlier this month.

On the eve of the ruling, Abeer Etefa, Middle East spokeswoman for the UN's World Food Programme, said 530 of the organisation's lorries had crossed into Gaza since the ceasefire. Those lorries had delivered more than 6,700 tonnes of food, which she said was “enough for close to half a million people for two weeks”.

The ceasefire presents an important opening to end the conflict, offering a “chance to change course and do things differently”, a senior UAE official said at a Reuters Next event in Abu Dhabi.

Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to President Sheikh Mohamed, said the region was at “a moment of opportunity or peril” and a path to peace was needed.

US Vice President JD Vance, on the second day of a visit to Israel, said he was optimistic the ceasefire would hold but recognised there was “a lot of work to be done”.

Obligations

The UN had asked the ICJ to clarify whether Israel had an obligation to grant access to UN agencies, foreign aid agencies and diplomatic corps into Palestine.

Lawyers for the UN and Palestinian representatives accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza between March and May. Since then some humanitarian aid has been allowed in but UN officials say the relief is nowhere near what is needed to ease a humanitarian disaster.

The case was initiated after Israeli politicians passed a law banning UNRWA, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating on Israeli soil last year. It claimed the organisation had employed members of Hamas who took part in the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The law was widely condemned, including by Israel allies such as the UK, France and Canada.

Israel’s accusations against UNRWA have led to a loss of financial support, and the ban has left the agency on the brink of “collapse”, a report commissioned by the UN earlier this year found.

A woman carries a box of food aid delivered by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip. Getty Images

Legal submissions

The case involved submissions from more than 30 countries and agencies, including Saudi Arabia, France and the Arab League, the US, Palestine and Israel.

During the hearings, head of the Palestinian Mission to the Netherlands, Ammar Hijazi, told the 15-judge panel that Israel was “starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organisations trying to save their lives”.

Israel did not appear before the ICJ hearings but submitted its legal position in writing. In April, its Foreign Minister Gideon Saar dismissed the court hearings as "a circus”.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, an Israeli attorney, said “no responsible nation” should accept the judgment. “Let us be clear: UNRWA in particular, and other UN bodies as well, have become nothing less than branches of Hamas,” she told The National.

“They blatantly violate the UN Charter and its most fundamental principles – especially the principle of neutrality. This entire process is nothing more than cheap politics cloaked in legal pretence, and no responsible nation should accept it.”

Danny Danon, Israeli ambassador to the UN, said the decision was “shameful”.

"They are blaming Israel for not co-operating with UN organs … they should be blaming themselves. Those organs became breeding grounds for terrorists. Take, for example, UNRWA … an organisation that supported Hamas for years,” he said.