Rights groups accuse Israel of further blocking Gaza aid, defying UN court

JERUSALEM - Two human rights groups on Feb 26 accused Israel of further limiting humanitarian aid into Gaza despite an order from the United Nation’s top court.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague a month ago said Israel must do everything to prevent genocidal acts in the besieged territory. It must also take “immediate and effective measures” for aid provision, the ICJ said.

But the Israeli authorities have “failed to take even the bare minimum steps to comply” with the ICJ ruling issued on Jan 26, Amnesty International said.

Both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the number of aid trucks entering Gaza had actually decreased by roughly one-third since the ruling, which came in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of breaching the UN Genocide Convention.

“The Israeli government is starving” Gaza’s 2.4 million Palestinians, “putting them in even more peril than before the World Court’s binding order”, said Mr Omar Shakir, HRW’s Israel and Palestine director.

“The Israeli government has simply ignored the court’s ruling, and in some ways even intensified its repression, including further blocking lifesaving aid.”

ICJ rulings are legally binding, but the court has no enforcement mechanism.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said there was a “50 per cent reduction” in humanitarian aid entering Gaza during February compared to January.

“Aid was supposed to increase not decrease to address the huge needs of two million Palestinians in desperate living conditions,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said on X, formerly Twitter.

He said a lack of political will and regular closing of border crossing points were among the reasons.

The latest comments from the two rights groups and UNRWA came as Israel prepares for an expected ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, which UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Feb 26 would “put the final nail in the coffin” of aid operations.

The war in Gaza began after Hamas militants staged an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on Oct 7, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 29,782 people, most of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel has dismissed the case brought by South Africa as a “grossly distorted story” and said that if any genocidal acts had been carried out, they had been executed against Israel during the October 7 Hamas attack.

In a separate, non-binding case, the UN has asked the ICJ to hand down an “advisory opinion” on the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”. AFP