Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The International Court of Justice on Tuesday heard arguments that Israel is illegally interfering in the provision of aid to Palestinians by UN agencies and bodies, by other NGOS, and by third states. That is, the court is being asked to declare the current Israeli blockade of civilian food and other aid to Gaza illegal.
Brazil’s representative, Ambassador to the court Marcelo Viegas, summed up the present situation: “The ongoing catastrophe in Gaza, now reaching 18 months, has already claimed over 51,000 lives, most of whom women and children. After a brief ceasefire, during which hostages were released and desperately needed humanitarian aid was temporarily allowed to reach the population of Gaza, Israel resumed blocking food, medicine, and other essential supplies from entering the territory, restarted its attacks, and launched a new ground offensive in Gaza. 6. In this troubling context, the present advisory opinion is sorely and urgently needed.”
As Brazil put it, “the United Nations General Assembly . . . through resolution 79/232 of 19 December 2024, requested this Court to render an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations regarding the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organizations and third-party States in, and in relation to, the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has had Gaza in a stranglehold for the past two months, illegally denying food and other aid to the civilian population of Gaza, attempting to starve them out. It is preventing NGOs, third states and UNRWA from providing this desperately needed aid. The Israelis have also passed laws attempting to dismantle the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and to make it impossible for it to function in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The plaintiffs on Tuesday argued that Israeli law cannot supersede the United Nations Charter and the obligations Israel incurs by its membership in the UN.
Regarding UNRWA, Brazil’s representative said, “UNRWA is the backbone of the United Nations humanitarian operations in favour of Palestinian refugees, providing education, healthcare, social services, and emergency assistance. It provides aid for over six million people. Its presence and work are even more urgent in the current context of near-total destruction in Gaza, where it serves over two million people.”
Brazil pointed to the urgency for a ICJ ruling, given Israel’s lawless attacks on aid workers, including a deliberate massacre of 15 medics, found with their hands tied behind their backs and shot by Israeli soldiers. Medics.
“Distinguished Members of the Court, in recent weeks, new and severe incidents of direct attacks by Israel against staff of international organizations and humanitarian aid providers continued to occur. 42. On the 30 March, the bodies of 15 humanitarian workers from the Palestinian Red Crescent, Civil Defence and UNRWA were discovered in Rafah, buried in a mass grave, having been killed by Israeli forces while participating in rescue operations in the southern Gaza Strip the previous week.
“In April, Israel bombed a building in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, which housed a clinic operated by UNRWA. The clinic had been turned into an improvised shelter for Palestinians displaced by the conflict. The attack caused at least 19 deaths, including that of nine children. Over 51,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in Gaza. Hundreds of humanitarian workers, whose work was solely aimed at saving lives or providing some relief to a desperate population, have also been killed. It is within this context that the present advisory opinion is frame.”
Bolivia’s ambassador to the UK, Roberto Calzadilla, begins by pointing out that the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza are illegal and illegitimate in the first place, according to the findings of the International Court of Justice itself last summer:
“As the Court affirmed, and the General Assembly reiterated in its request, this is the foundational illegality of Israel’s presence and exercise of authority in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The Court found that Israel ‘is not entitled to sovereignty over or to exercise sovereign powers in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory on account of its occupation.’”
Bolivia’s Caldazilla then delivered one of the most concise and devastating take-downs of Israeli propaganda ever:
“Israel’s presence, found by the Court to be illegal, is rooted in the violation of the most fundamental norms of international law ⎯ the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by force and the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.”
Israel is a notorious scofflaw when it comes to the UN Charter (to which it is a signatory). The UN charter sought to make it illegal for one country to attack another and steal its territory, which Israel is now doing to Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. The UN wants humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinians through its own UN Relief and Works Agency. Israel is deliberately obstructing these elements.
Bolivia’s Dr. Niccolò Ridi, a senior lecturer in Public International Law at King’s College London, goes on to point out:
“Mr President, Israel is, as a Member of the United Nations, bound by Article 2, paragraph 2, of the United Nations Charter to fulfil its Charter obligations in good faith. It is bound by Article 2, paragraph 5 of the United Nations Charter to give the United Nations “every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with” the Charter.”
Article 2, Para. 2 says “All Members, in order to ensure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.”
Bolivia points out that Israel as a UN member state doesn’t get to decide what the charter means or to unilaterally refuse its obligations as a member.
Bolivia replied to Israel’s invocation of security concerns to justify its military actions against Palestinians, its blockade of Gaza for the past two months, and its attempt to destroy the UN-mandated UN Reliefs and Works Agency, which provides aid to and educates Palestinian refugees.
Bolivia pointed to several reasons for which Israel’s justifications for cutting off food and other aid to Gaza and its attack on UNRWA are illegitimate. Ridi grappled directly with the Israeli claim that it has to act this way for the sake of its own security:
“security concerns cannot override absolute prohibitions stemming from what the Court . . . referred to as “intransgressible principles.” These include absolute prohibitions under international humanitarian law against
*collective punishment,
*deliberate starvation,
*attacks on objects indispensable to survival, and
*respect for non- derogable human rights.
Widespread denial of essential aid amounts to a breach of these fundamental rules.”
As for disregarding the UN mandate to allow UNRWA to fulfill its mission in the Palestinian territories, Bolivia said:
“Article 105 of the Charter obliges all Members to grant the Organization and its officials the privileges and immunities “necessary for the fulfilment of its purposes” and “necessary for the independent exercise of their functions”. The General Convention implements this Charter duty without replacing it or superseding it. These protections cannot be overridden by any security exceptions stemming from international humanitarian law.”
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