South African officers mentioned Tuesday that Israel “acts with impunity” in now-flattened Gaza, because the United Nations’ prime court docket kicked off hearings within the case accusing Israel of violating worldwide legislation by persevering with to dam Palestinians from receiving life-saving humanitarian support.
The Worldwide Court docket of Justice is predicted to listen to arguments this week from no less than 40 international locations about whether or not Israel has failed to hold out its obligations as each an occupying energy and a U.N. member state by refusing to permit and facilitate humanitarian help in war-torn Gaza. The U.N. Basic Meeting requested the ICJ final yr to ship an advisory opinion on the matter, which grew extra pressing after Israel blocked all support from coming into the territory in March.
“Israel continues to act with impunity, as it does enjoy some form of exceptionalism from accountability to international law and norms,” South Africa’s consultant Zane Dangor mentioned Tuesday earlier than the court docket. “Conversely, any person or entity which seeks to hold Israel to account for its inhumane and unlawful actions is subjected to countermeasures and censure, from which the United Nations and this court has not been spared.”
Mouneb Taim/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures
“Under the world’s watchful eye, Palestinians across the occupied Palestinian territories are being subjected to atrocity crimes, persecution, apartheid and genocide,” Dangor mentioned. “While we watch, the gaze of Palestinians is directed squarely at the international community and this court, whose advice is urgently being sought for the protection of the most fundamental rights, including the right to life.”
Israel has been finishing up its present army offensive in Gaza since October 2023, destroying life-sustaining infrastructure like hospitals, energy grids, farms, sanitation methods, water remedy, shelter and warmth. The lethal assaults have left Palestinian households closely reliant on support deliveries, which Israel barely let into the territory earlier than fully slicing them off on March 2.
Nonetheless, Israel denies deliberately focusing on Palestinian civilians, support employees and first responders, and maintains that Hamas is chargeable for the help block. The Israeli authorities has additionally criticized the U.N. — together with its courts — and blocked its company for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) from working in Gaza. Israel just isn’t showing at this week’s ICJ hearings, and International Minister Gideon Saar mentioned that the case is a part of a “systematic persecution and delegitimization” of the nation.
Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu by way of Getty Pictures
The hearings started simply days after the World Meals Program introduced that it has formally run out of meals in Gaza, leaving hundreds of thousands of already ravenous Palestinians with no means to feed themselves as a result of ongoing blockade. UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma mentioned the company has simply over 5,000 support vans ready outdoors Gaza, whereas the blockade has fueled a black market “where prices have increased from 10 to 20, sometimes 40 times.” Some households have resorted to burning plastic as a result of lack of cooking fuel, she mentioned.
“The siege on Gaza is the silent killer of children, of older people,” Touma mentioned Tuesday in Geneva. “Families — whole families, seven or eight people — are resorting to sharing one can of beans or peas. Imagine not having anything to feed your children. Children in Gaza are going to bed starving.”
The ICJ might take months to kind an advisory opinion, which isn’t binding however carries authorized weight and affect, significantly in worldwide negotiations and in public opinion.
“This is not only about humanitarian needs, but it’s about dignity. There is an assault on people’s dignity in Gaza today,” Jonathan Whittall, native chief of the U.N.’s support coordination company (OCHA), informed reporters Saturday in Gaza.
“Lives depend on the blockade ending, aid flowing and a ceasefire being reinstated,” he continued. “I hope that we see real accountability — real accountability — before we see history judge those who watched what is happening in Gaza and did nothing.”
