The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague holds its third day of hearings on Israel’s humanitarian obligations to Palestinians. It is 60 years old.
Before Israel resumed its ground assaults and bombardments on March 18, which have resulted in the deaths of more than 52, 000 Palestinians in the enclave since October 7, 2023, no food, water, or medical supplies have been allowed into the war-torn Gaza Strip since March 2.
The UN has called for “concerted” action to put an end to the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Strip and issued a warning about “full-scale famine conditions” across the Strip.
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, all of its bakeries have been completely depleted, and all of its stock inside Gaza have been completely depleted.
Numerous people have been forced to leave food supplies and emergency stocks that were secured during the January ceasefire, according to a report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Additionally, according to the report, the majority of people are unable to bake for themselves because wheat flour is so expensive and there is a severe shortage of cooking fuel.
Because 70% of the enclave has been designated as a “no-go” area or has been given orders by the Israeli military, the report continued, people are also forced to rely on aid supplies because farmers and breeders cannot access their land.
If aid is not provided, the remaining soup kitchens in Gaza say they may have to close them in days.
Famine’s precipice
According to the UN agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, some families are resorting to eating “whatever they can find” even when it is not safe to eat.
Meanwhile, a WFP spokesperson stated to our colleagues in Arabic that “aid trucks are] stuck at the border waiting to enter Gaza.”
NGO Mercy Corps warns that Gaza’s food systems could completely collapse unless borders open immediately, not to mention that prices inside the enclave have increased by more than 500 percent.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system, the world’s largest hunger monitor, has begun an investigation into the Gaza Strip’s lack of food and malnutrition.
OCHA estimates the assessment will take one week and begin on April 28. The exercise is being led by more than 50 trained analysts from international and local UN agencies, including those from the Gaza Strip.
Since Israel began its genocidal actions in Gaza, the IPC had issued at least four warnings, warning that the region may be on the verge of famine.
According to Hani Mahmoud, a journalist from Gaza City for Al Jazeera, medical staff warn that many patients and injuries are dying as a result of the shortage of medical supplies.
Due to a shortage of medical supplies, medical staff warn that there are many more patients quietly dying inside the remaining health facilities. He claimed that there are no such things as painkillers.
Younis al-Khatib, the president of the Palestine Red Crescent, demanded that Israel be subject to sanctions because it “left no place for humanity in Gaza.”
According to al-Khatib, “I can’t see my colleagues, my friends, and my staff being killed by a state that disrespects our flag and international law,” he said.
“It would have been sanctioned if any other state had done it.”
At the ICJ, the US defends Israel.
In addition, the UN’s top court was holding hearings on what Israel should do to aid Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank for the third day in The Hague following last year’s request for an advisory opinion from the UN General Assembly.
Israel is required to aid Gaza, but the United States defended it on Wednesday, saying UNRWA is not required to cooperate with UNRWA. After Israel claimed 19 of the agency’s roughly 13, 000 employees were involved in Hamas’ attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, it was prohibited from operating on its territory in January.
There is no legal requirement that an occupying power authorizes a particular third state or international organization to engage in activities that would compromise its security interests, according to Josh Simmons, a lawyer from the US State Department.
Simmons suggested that other organizations could carry out UNRWA’s mission despite the UN agency’s repeated assertions that its current role as an aid provider could not be replaced.
Hungary made similar points when it spoke out in support of Israel.
The Russian Federation stated in a statement following the US that the majority of the world’s leaders backed UNRWA’s efforts because it was crucial to the Palestinian people.
“This matter cannot be overstated because it is urgent.” Gaza is on the verge of famine. In the ruin, there are hospitals. Existential despair is a reality for many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem, according to Maksim Musikhin of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Other nations, including Turkey, France, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, and Kuwait, were expected to voice opposition to Israel’s aid embargo before the end of the day, according to Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, who is a journalist from The Hague.
Challands claimed that all of the nations that made statements to the court in the opening days of the hearings had been hostile toward Israel. He claimed that a nation only showed up in support of Israel at the beginning of the third day, and that was the US.
Source: Aljazeera
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