The International Court of Justice said on Wednesday told Israel to cooperate with U.N. relief efforts in Gaza and the West Bank, not impede them.
The Hague-based court’s nonbinding advisory opinion centered on Israel’s duty to allow international aid agencies to operate in areas that much of the world considers occupied Palestinian territory. The court, a branch of the United Nations, issued the ruling at the request of the U.N. General Assembly.
Much of the opinion delivered on Wednesday focused on Israel’s attempts to curb the work of the U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, known as UNRWA. Israeli officials have sought to ban the agency, accusing it of being infiltrated by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
But the International Court of Justice said in its opinion that Israel should not interfere with UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, the court told the Israeli government to “agree to and facilitate” attempts to provide aid there “by all means at its disposal” — including efforts by UNRWA.
Israel and Hamas are currently observing a U.S.-backed cease-fire that the Trump administration hopes will end the Gaza war. Under the truce, Israel has begun allowing more desperately needed aid into Gaza, although humanitarian officials say more still is needed.
Yuji Iwasawa, the court’s president, read out the ruling on Wednesday which said that Israel, as an occupying power, is responsible for ensuring that people living in the West Bank and Gaza have “the essential supplies of daily life,” including food and shelter.
Israel immediately dismissed the opinion as politically motivated. The Israeli government did not attend hearings on the matter earlier this year, instead sending written submissions that denied any violations of international law.
The I.C.J., also known as the World Court, is the leading international body for adjudicating disputes between states. Its advisory opinions, while not formally binding, carry lgreat symbolic weight.
In 2004, the court declared that the Israeli separation barrier — which winds around and through the occupied West Bank — was illegal.
Two decades later, in 2024, the I.C.J. issued another opinion saying that Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem was unlawful. Israel condemned the ruling and emphasized that it was not bound by it.
The opinion delivered on Wednesday could further inflame a fierce debate over Israel’s policies on restricting aid into Gaza, which have made food, fuel and medicine scarce since the war began two years ago.
An Israeli law now bans UNRWA from operating in Israel and curbs its activity in the West Bank and Gaza by barring it from coordinating with the Israeli authorities.
UNRWA fired several employees for alleged involvement in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which ignited the Gaza war. But the court argued that, on its own, this was not enough to taint the entire organization, with 30,000 employees.
Israel has claimed that more than 1,000 of UNRWA’s workers are linked to Hamas. But the court found that Israel had not provided sufficient evidence to support those accusations and reiterated that Israel must not obstruct UNRWA’s relief operations.
“The court basically says: ‘We recognize Israel’s security concerns, but security is not a free-standing exception to international humanitarian law,’” said Adil Haque, an international law expert at Rutgers Law School.
However, the court steered clear of directly accusing Israel of having violated international law, which the justices said would overstep the mandate given to them by the General Assembly.
Legal analysts said Wednesday’s opinion could be a bellwether for a far more fraught and significant ruling the World Court is expected to hand down at a later date — on whether Israel committed the crime of genocide in Gaza during the war.
The proceedings against Israel over genocide allegations in Gaza began last year at the request of South Africa. Israeli leaders categorically reject the accusation, saying that they are fighting Hamas, not Palestinians as a whole.
Philippe Lazzarini, the UNRWA chief, wrote on social media that he welcomed the “unambiguous ruling” from the court on Wednesday. He said the agency was ready to immediate “scale up the humanitarian response” in Gaza as soon as its officials were allowed to do so.
Hunger was widespread during the war and at one point, a U.N.-backed panel of food security experts said there were pockets of famine in northern Gaza. There were also shortages of clean water and medicines.
Aid officials say Israeli restrictions, among other challenges, were responsible for rising hunger and malnutrition. At times during the war, many Gazans were not eating for multiple days, according to the World Food Program.
Israel has disputed the dire circumstances described by Gazans and relief agencies, as well as denying any intent to deliberately starve Palestinians.
Between March and May, Israel blocked practically all food and other aid from entering Gaza in an attempt to force Hamas to surrender. The United Nations called the policy “cruel collective punishment” of Palestinian civilians.
Israel relented in late May after its own military officials began warning that starvation in Gaza might be imminent.
Now, under the U.S.-backed cease-fire, Israel has committed to allowing a greater influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza. That includes letting 600 trucks enter daily, according to Israeli officials.
Top relief officials say they have managed to bring more food and other supplies into Gaza during the cease-fire.
Antoine Renard, the U.N. World Food Program’s director for Gaza, said his agency was bringing in more supplies. There was no longer much of the desperate looting that took place before the cease-fire, which saw crowds of hungry Palestinians mob aid trucks for food, he added.
In southern and central Gaza, most people are now able to eat at least two meals a day, Mr. Renard said in an interview on Wednesday.
“We have an uptick, although that uptick is still not yet where we’d like to see it,” he said.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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