Israel and US Scorn ICJ Ruling Against Starving Civilians as Method of Warfare

his week the International Court of Justice (ICJ or World Court) told Israel what seems obvious to any reasonable person — that it cannot starve civilians as a method of warfare. But Israel does not act in accordance with international law, as evidenced by its two-year campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, during which it has killed over 68,000 Gazans (more likely 680,000, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said on September 15).

In its 71-page advisory opinion, issued on October 22, the ICJ reiterated that Israel is illegally occupying the Gaza Strip. The court unanimously held that as the occupying power, Israel has obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure that the population of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Gaza, has essential supplies of everyday life, including water, food, shelter, clothing, bedding, and fuel, as well as medical equipment and services. The court also held that Israel must respect and protect all medical and relief personnel and facilities.

The ICJ ruled 10-1 in its advisory opinion that Israel has an obligation to facilitate humanitarian relief by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and other international organizations and third states, and must refrain from impeding that relief.

And the court unanimously held that Israel must respect the prohibition on deportation and forcible transfer in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the right of the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel to be visited by the International Committee of the Red Cross. The court noted that transfer is forcible not just when it is achieved by physical force, but also when people have no choice but to leave because the occupying power has inflicted conditions of life that are intolerable.

The ICJ rejected Israel’s bogus defense that its national security trumped its obligations under international humanitarian law, saying that the protection of security interests is not a “free-standing exception” allowing a state to violate its international humanitarian law obligations.

Both the human rights treaties to which Israel is a party and customary international law guarantee a wide range of human rights relevant to the people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, according to the ICJ. They include the right to life; the right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; the right to liberty and security; the right to freedom of movement; the right to protection of family life; the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing, housing, and the continuous improvement of living conditions; the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the right to education; and the right not to be subject to discrimination on specific grounds.

The advisory opinion was issued in response to a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 19, 2024, which requested that the ICJ detail the obligations of Israel as an occupying power and a member of the UN relating to the presence and activities of UN agencies, other international organizations, and third states in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The resolution asked the ICJ to opine on Israel’s obligation to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population, as well as basic services and humanitarian and development assistance for the benefit of Palestinian civilians “and in support of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.”

Impacts of ICJ Advisory Opinions

Although advisory opinions of the ICJ are nonbinding, they carry great moral, political, and diplomatic weight with third states. On July 19, 2024, the ICJ held that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and all states have an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining that situation. As a result of that ruling (and domestic pressure), several states have now recognized Palestine as an independent state.

From April 28 to May 2, 2025, 39 states, the United Nations and three other international organizations presented oral arguments before the ICJ. All states but two — the U.S. and Hungary — condemned Israel’s denial of humanitarian assistance to the people starving in Gaza. Israel refused to orally address the ICJ, but it filed a written statement with the court.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that it “categorically rejects” the ICJ’s October 22 advisory opinion, stating that the court ignored the “extensive evidence” Israel provided of what it claimed was UNRWA’s “infiltration” by Hamas and UNRWA’s complicity in terrorist activities. “This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of ‘International Law,’” the ministry alleged.

Likewise, the U.S. State Department called the advisory opinion “corrupt,” claiming that it “unfairly bashes Israel and gives UNRWA a free pass for its deep entanglement with and material support for Hamas terrorism.”

Humanitarian Assistance Before October 7, 2023

The ICJ noted that all UN member states must fulfill their obligations under the UN Charter in good faith, and that includes cooperating with the United Nations.

Throughout its 75-year history, the ICJ wrote in its October 22 opinion, “UNRWA has become the pivotal United Nations agency for relief and assistance to Palestine refugees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and neighbouring States.” Successive General Assembly resolutions have extended UNRWA’s mandate, most recently extending it until June 30, 2026.

UNRWA has been the primary provider of essential services in Gaza, including educating approximately 300,000 children in 288 schools, delivering health care to about 900,000 patients and emergency aid to around 1.1 million people. The ICJ noted that “UNRWA was indispensable in delivering essential services to Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” citing findings by the United Nations.

The Attacks of October 7, 2023, and the Response

Following the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, Israel “substantially restricted,” and between March 2, 2025 and May 18, 2025, “completely prevented,” the entry of water and food into Gaza and its distribution to the Palestinians “with catastrophic consequences for this population,” the ICJ wrote. Since May 19, 2025, Israel has only allowed the resumption “of a limited amount of aid.”

Between October 7, 2023 and August 20, 2025, at least 531 aid workers, including 366 UN personnel (360 of whom worked for UNRWA), had been killed in Gaza.

In January 2024, Israel alleged that a number of UNRWA staff members were involved in the October 7, 2023, attacks and that UNRWA had lost its neutrality. The UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) investigated 19 UNRWA staff, with Israel’s cooperation, which led to the dismissal of nine of them who, OIOS concluded, might have been involved in the October 7, 2023 attacks. OIOS found no or insufficient evidence of involvement of the other ten.

Additionally, the UN Secretary-General commissioned an investigation by an independent panel to determine whether UNRWA was taking all reasonable measures to ensure its neutrality. The “Colonna Report” issued in April 2024 concluded that although some neutrality issues persisted, including staff expressing political views, “UNRWA has established a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles, with emphasis on the principle of neutrality, and that it possesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities.”

The ICJ wrote that there is no evidence that UNRWA as an entity (with more than 17,000 employees in the Occupied Palestinian Territory) breached the principle of impartiality under the Fourth Geneva Convention, that is, “there is no evidence that UNRWA has discriminated with respect to nationality, race, religious belief, class or political opinion during its distribution of humanitarian aid and provision of services in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Nevertheless, Israel continued to claim that UNRWA had been infiltrated “by Hamas and other terrorist organizations,” the ICJ noted. On March 18, 2024, Israel refused to grant the Commissioner-General of UNRWA entry into Gaza.

“In the current circumstances,” according to the ICJ, “it is not possible to replicate the capacity of the United Nations, acting through UNRWA, to ensure that the population of the Gaza Strip is adequately provided for. UNRWA cannot be replaced on short notice and without a proper transition plan.”

On October 28, 2024, the Israeli Knesset adopted two laws, “Law to Cease UNRWA Operations” and the “Law to Cease UNRWA Operations in the Territory of the State of Israel.” Israel expelled UNRWA from the Occupied Palestinian Territory beginning January 24, 2025. But, the ICJ noted that as an occupying power, Israel is not entitled to sovereignty over or to exercise sovereign authority in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which it purported to do by enacting those two laws.

“In the occupied territory, over which Israel, as an occupying Power, enjoys no sovereignty, it is not entitled to decide unilaterally, with respect to the presence and activities of the United Nations in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the same way as in its own territory,” the ICJ wrote.

Moreover, Israel has impeded and restrained the activities of other international organizations and third states, including by limiting their ability to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the ICJ noted.

On May 27, 2025, the U.S.-sponsored and financed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a militarized aid distribution system that purportedly replaced deliveries by the UN and other neutral aid organizations — began operating in Gaza. But that system exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation attracted desperate Gazans seeking food and then killed many of them when they arrived to obtain vital aid. As of September 9, nearly 3,000 Palestinians had been killed and almost 20,000 injured while seeking aid.

“As of the end of August 2025,” the court said, “the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip had become catastrophic, with evidence of famine, mass displacement, extreme levels of deprivation and a continued increase in civilian casualties, including children.”

The Right of the Palestinian People to Self-Determination

The ICJ explained that the General Assembly’s request for an advisory opinion did not occur in isolation but rather arose in the context of Israel’s prolonged occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory for more than 58 years, and the continued denial of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination.

Israel’s enactment of the laws banning UNRWA from the Occupied Palestinian Territory is inconsistent with its obligation not to impede the Palestinian people from exercising their right of self-determination, including their inalienable right to territorial integrity over the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory, the court noted.

The ICJ also wrote that depriving the population of its essential means of subsistence threatens the fundamental conditions indispensable to exercise its right to self-determination. Respect for the right to self-determination requires Israel not to prevent the fulfilment of the basic needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza, including by the UN, its entities (UNRWA), other international organizations and third States.

The Current Situation

Before the October 10 ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas took effect, UN-supported global experts warned that over 640,000 Palestinians were facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity and that there was an “entirely man-made” famine in Gaza City.

Since the ceasefire began, Israel has started allowing some aid into Gaza, but nowhere near enough to meet its legal obligations and assist the starving Gazans. The UN World Food Program is getting about 750 tons of food aid into Gaza daily, still far below its target of 2,000 tons per day. Although the ceasefire agreement requires 600 trucks per day of food and other humanitarian supplies, only 263 trucks entered Gaza on October 20, and 281 trucks entered Gaza on October 22, less than half of the agreed-upon number.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has suspended operations, as it runs out of money and faces leadership problems and logistical obstacles to a resumption of its work.

Meanwhile, the ICJ is considering the merits of South Africa’s case against Israel that alleges Israel breached the Genocide Convention. Arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity — for intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival and intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population — are pending in the International Criminal Court.

During the past two years, millions of people globally have demonstrated in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement has achieved widespread popular support.

The new advisory opinion issued by the ICJ will continue to shame Israel in the eyes of the world.

Link :

https://scheerpost.com/2025/10/25/israel-and-us-scorn-icj-ruling-against-starving-civilians-as-method-of-warfare/