"The Hague-based court was asked late last year by the U.N. General Assembly to determine Israel's legal obligations after the country passed laws effectively banning the agency, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating there. Israel "is under the obligation to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities, including UNRWA," ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa said."
"The commissioner-general of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a message on X that he welcomed "the unambiguous ruling by the International Court of Justice today." "With huge amounts of food & other life saving supplies on standby in Egypt & Jordan, UNRWA has the resources & expertise to immediately scale up the humanitarian response in Gaza & help alleviate the suffering of the civilian population," he added."
"Israel has denied it has violated international law, saying the court's proceedings are biased, and the country didn't attend hearings in April. However, Israel provided a 38-page written submission for the court to consider. In a written statement, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected the opinion and said Israel "fully upholds its obligations under International Law." It added, in a reference to UNRWA, that Israel "will not cooperate with an organization that is infested with terror activities.""
The International Court of Justice found that Israel is under an obligation to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities, including UNRWA. Israel has not allowed UNRWA to bring in supplies since March; UNRWA continues to run health centers, mobile medical teams and sanitation services and reports 6,000 trucks of supplies waiting to enter. UNRWA's commissioner-general welcomed the ruling and said food and lifesaving supplies on standby in Egypt and Jordan could immediately scale up the humanitarian response. Israel denied violating international law, called proceedings biased, submitted a written response, and rejected the opinion, refusing to cooperate with UNRWA on security grounds. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged compliance.
Read at Irish Independent
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]