International Court of Justice orders Israel to ensure there is food in Gaza | UN

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel this Thursday to take all necessary and effective actions to ensure that food is available in the territory.

Judges at the UN’s highest judicial body said that Palestinians in Gaza face worsening conditions and that hunger and malnutrition are spreading.

“The court notes that Palestinians in Gaza no longer only face a risk of starvation (…), but that famine is taking hold,” the judges said in their unanimous decision, cited by Reuters.

The ICJ also ordered Israel to ensure “that its armed forces do not commit acts that constitute a violation of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza (…), including preventing, through any action, the provision of urgently needed humanitarian assistance”, it quotes the british diary The Guardian.

The judges also called for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas, in line with a UN Security Council resolution approved on Monday.

On January 26, the court decided to grant provisional measures to Israel in the context of the case presented by South Africa based on the convention against genocide. Israel had to carry out actions to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, among others, such as punishing direct incitement to genocide and reporting them to the court within a month, the court ruled, with 15 votes in favor and one against.

The measures are mandatory, but their non-execution by the State can only be punished through the UN Security Council. The fact that Israel participated in the process could, however, show willingness to apply the measures, some analysts commented at the time.

Israel has argued that there is enough food coming in, but that the problem is distribution. UN aid agencies reject this version, saying that there is a problem with the quantity of food coming in and distribution, especially in the northern zone, which includes Gaza City.

The USA, Israel’s allies, have been carrying out aid deliveries by air, a method that is normally reserved for populations surrounded by enemies rather than allies, as it is a risky method – just this week 12 people drowned trying to to collect aid packages dropped by planes that fell into the sea, and before that five children had died after being hit by aid packages whose parachutes did not open.