UN Holds Hearings on Israel, Palestine 04/28 06:17

   

   THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- A Palestinian diplomat told the United 
Nations' top court on Monday that Israel is killing and displacing civilians 
and targeting aid workers in Gaza, in a case that Israel criticized as part of 
its "systematic persecution and delegitimization."

   Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its 
war with Hamas and did not attend the hearing at the International Court of 
Justice.

   In The Hague, Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi accused 
Israel of breaching international law in the occupied territories.

   "Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also 
targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives," 
he told the court.

   The hearings are focussed on a request last year from the U.N. General 
Assembly, which asked the court to weigh in on Israel's legal responsibilities 
after the country blocked the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees from 
operating on its territory.

   Lawyer Paul Reichler, representing the Palestinians, told judges that one of 
the Geneva Conventions "not only lays down that the occupying power must agree 
to relief schemes on behalf of the population, but insists that it must 
facilitate them by all the means at its disposal."

   U.N. Undersecretary-General for Legal Affairs Elinor Hammarskjld said 
earlier that "measures taken by the occupying power to ensure its security must 
be exercised in a manner that would not deny impartial humanitarian 
organizations such as the United Nations the ability to carry out relief 
schemes."

   Hearings opened as the humanitarian aid system in Gaza is nearing collapse. 
Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian 
supplies since March 2. It renewed its bombardment on March 18, breaking a 
ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, saying it aims to push 
Hamas to release more hostages. Despite the stepped-up Israeli pressure, 
ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked.

   The World Food Program said last week its food stocks in the Gaza Strip have 
run out, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of 
Palestinians as many families are struggling to feed their children.

   What will happen in the court?

   The United Nations was the first to address the court on Monday, followed by 
Palestinian representatives. In total, 40 states and four international 
organizations are scheduled to participate.

   Israel ally the United States is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.

   The court will likely take months to rule. Experts say the decision, though 
not legally binding, could profoundly impact international jurisprudence, 
international aid to Israel and public opinion.

   "Advisory opinions provide clarity," Juliette McIntyre, an expert on 
international law at the University of South Australia, told The Associated 
Press. Governments rely on them in international negotiations and the outcome 
could be used to pressure Israel into easing restrictions on aid.

   Whether any ruling will have an effect on Israel, however, is unclear. 
Israel has long accused the United Nations of being unfairly biased against it 
and has ignored a 2004 advisory ruling by the ICJ that found its West Bank 
separation barrier illegal.

   While Israel was not in court, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar hit back at the 
case.

   "I accuse UNRWA, I accuse the U.N., I accuse the secretary-general and I 
accuse all those that weaponized international law and its institutions in 
order to deprive the most attacked country in the world, Israel, of its most 
basic right to defend itself," he told a news conference in Jerusalem. He said 
the court hearing was part of a "systematic persecution and delegitimization" 
of his country.

   On Tuesday, South Africa, a staunch critic of Israel, will present its 
arguments. In hearings last year in a separate case at the court, the country 
accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza -- a 
charge Israel denies. Those proceedings are still underway.

   Israel's troubled relations with UNRWA

   Israel's ban on the agency, known as UNRWA, which provides aid to Gaza, came 
into effect in January. The organization has faced increased criticism from 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claim the group 
is deeply infiltrated by Hamas. UNRWA rejects that claim.

   On Monday, Amir Weissbrod, a Foreign Ministry official, accused UNRWA of 
failing to act before the war against evidence that Hamas had used its 
facilities, including by digging tunnels underneath them. The official said 
UNRWA employed 1,400 Palestinians with militant ties. Israel says some of those 
employees also took part in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and Weissbrod said at 
least three of those employees still worked for the U.N. The presentation 
included videos, documents and pictures of the alleged employees.

   The Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and 
set off the war in Gaza. UNRWA said it fired nine staffers after an internal 
U.N. investigation concluded that they could have been involved, although the 
evidence was not authenticated and corroborated.

   The Israeli ban doesn't apply directly to Gaza. But it controls all entry to 
the territory, and its ban on UNRWA from operating inside Israel greatly limits 
the agency's ability to function. Israeli officials say they are looking for 
alternative ways to deliver aid to Gaza that would cut out the United Nations.

   UNRWA was established by the U.N. General Assembly in 1949 to provide relief 
for Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes in what is now 
Israel during the war surrounding Israel's creation the previous year until 
there is a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

   The agency has been providing aid and services -- including health and 
education -- to some 2.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank 
and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

   Israel's air and ground war has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly 
women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say 
how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed 
around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.