- Written by Christy Cooney
- BBC news
image source, Getty Images
Children holding empty pots wait for aid workers to distribute food in Gaza City earlier this month.
The United Nations Supreme Court has ordered Israel to allow unimpeded flow of aid into Gaza to avert starvation.
In a unanimous decision, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Israel must act “without delay” to enable “the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.”
This comes after warnings that famine could hit Gaza within weeks.
He insisted that claims that Israel was blocking aid were “totally baseless.”
In response to the court order, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the United Nations, will “promote new initiatives and consolidate existing ones” to enable the continued flow of aid to Gaza by “land, air and sea.” “It continues to expand,” he said. others.
He said Hamas was responsible for the situation in Gaza and the start of the war.
The latest ruling by the Hague court comes after South Africa called on Israel to strengthen an order it issued in January to take all measures to stop genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Although orders issued by the ICJ are legally binding, courts do not have the power to enforce them. The UN Security Council is the only UN body that can introduce measures to ensure compliance.
The report said all 2.2 million people in Gaza “face high levels of severe food insecurity” and hunger is expected to hit the northern Gaza Strip by the end of May.
Hunger occurs when a country experiences severe food shortages and its population faces severe malnutrition, starvation, and death.
In its ruling, the ICJ said Gaza “no longer faces only the risk of starvation” but “has begun to starve” and UN monitors said 31 people, including 27 children, were already underfed. He said he died of ataxia and dehydration.
The court also referred to comments by Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who said last week that “situations of hunger, famine, starvation” were “a widespread threat to Israel's entry and distribution of humanitarian aid and commercial goods.” This is the result of restrictions.” the loss of supplies, the displacement of large parts of the population, and the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure. ”
The ICJ stated that Israel, in full cooperation with the United Nations, must take necessary and effective measures without delay to ensure the unimpeded and large-scale provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance. We must take action.”
The most needed aid includes food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, as well as hygiene and medical supplies.
Long lines of aid trucks have repeatedly formed in recent months waiting to enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt, with Israel accused of subjecting deliveries to complex and arbitrary checks.
Israel also said Hamas receives much of the aid that enters the Gaza Strip and accused the United Nations of failing to distribute aid left to civilians.
The current conflict began after an attack on October 7, when Hamas-led armed groups crossed the border into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
Approximately 130 of those taken remain unaccounted for, and at least 34 of them are presumed dead.
Gaza's health ministry, run by Hamas, said at least 32,552 people had been killed in Israeli retaliatory operations. Earlier this month, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said more than 25,000 of the dead were women and children.
