Sawt Falasteen - UN members seek ICJ opinion on Israel aid obligations to Palestinians

Israel, which has tightly controlled aid going into the Hamas-ruled territory since the outbreak of the war, often blames the inability of relief organizations to handle and distribute large quantities of aid for the dire humanitarian situation.

Despite international concerns, Israeli lawmakers have passed laws to bar the UN's Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA, from operating in Israel and east Jerusalem, while raising the prospect of similar measures against other aid agencies.

The UN's full membership voted to request an ICJ advisory opinion which, though not binding, can serve to heighten pressure on countries -- as happened in July when it said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory was "illegal" and needed to end.

The resolution seeking the advisory opinion from the UN's top court was brought by Norway, and co-sponsored by Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia among others. It won backing from 137 countries, while 12objected, and 22 abstained.

The ICJ will be asked to consider what Israel is obliged to do to "ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population."

"It is just a catastrophe that the international community has not been able to respond adequately," Norway's deputy foreign minister Andreas Kravik told AFP, claiming Israel "has just not been collaborating with the UN... but also with other NGOs."

"There is not a lack of willingness on the part of the international community to provide humanitarian assistance, but we're just not getting access, and we're not getting the collaboration we need in order to be effective," he said.

- ICJ 'weaponized' -

For more than seven decades, UNRWA has provided critical support to Palestinian refugees.

But the agency has faced mounting criticism from Israeli officials that has escalated since the start of the war in Gaza, which was unleashed after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack.

Israel claims that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the deadly assault.

Norway angered Israel in May when it recognized the Palestinian state, together with Ireland and Spain.

Unlike other donors, it increased its aid to UNRWA in June despite the controversy over whether the agency's employees were involved in the October 7 attack.

"This is not in any way an anti-Israel measure. This is a pro-humanitarian principles measure that we're taking," Kravik said, adding: "We have nothing against Israel."

Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon said "this assembly refuses to move forward."

"The ICJ now has been weaponized... its advisory opinions undermined to attack Israel," he said calling the process an "endless loop of bias."

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST