Two human rights groups have accused Israel of further limiting humanitarian aid to Gaza despite an order from the United Nations’ highest court.
Exactly a month ago, the International Court of Justice in The Hague declared that Israel must do everything to prevent acts of genocide in the besieged territory. Tel Aviv must also take “immediate and effective measures” to provide aid, the ICJ added.
But the Israeli authorities “have not taken even the minimum measures to comply” with the ICJ ruling handed down on January 26, Amnesty International said.
Amnesty and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday that the number of aid trucks entering Gaza had actually fallen by about a third since the ruling, issued in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of violating the United Nations Genocide Convention.
“The Israeli government is starving” Gaza’s 2.4 million Palestinians, “putting them in even greater danger than before the World Court’s binding order,” said Omar Shakir, HRW’s Israel and Palestine director. “The Israeli government simply ignored the Court’s decision and, in some ways, even intensified its repression, including by further blocking vital aid. »
ICJ judgments are legally binding, but the Court has no enforcement mechanism.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said there had been a “50% reduction” in humanitarian aid entering Gaza in February compared to January.
The NGO comments come as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza, which, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday, would “put the final nail in the coffin” of the aid operations.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7. Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 30,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s health ministry.
Israel dismissed South Africa’s case as “grossly distorted history” and said if acts of genocide were committed, they were carried out against Israel during the October 7 Hamas attack .
In a separate, non-binding case, the UN asked the ICJ to issue an “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”
