Hamas welcomes ICJ hearings on Israel’s humanitarian obligations towards Palestinians

The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has welcomed the beginning of proceedings at the top UN court on the obligation of Israel, as an occupying regime, to ensure and facilitate humanitarian aid to all Palestinians, particularly those in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas issued a statement on Monday after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) opened a week of hearings on Israel’s breach of international law as it has refused to let aid into Gaza and banned the UN’s Palestinian aid agency, UNRWA.

The Hague-based tribunal will issue an advisory opinion about Israel’s obligation at a later stage. Although the decision is not binding, it carries legal weight and could affect governments’ policies toward the usurping entity.

Hamas said the ICJ has highlighted the Israeli blockade of aid into Gaza as a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and exposed the occupation’s use of starvation as a weapon of war against civilians.

The resistance group also underlined the need for enforcing the court’s previous rulings, which Israel has deliberately ignored by continuing its genocide in Gaza, escalating policies of siege and starvation, and targeting civilian infrastructure.

“The international community, with its legal and rights groups, must uphold its legal and moral responsibilities, and move beyond verbal condemnations to practical steps that ensure accountability for the occupation, an end to its crimes and our people’s suffering,” it added.

Israel launched its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which has so far killed at least 52,314 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured more than 117,792 others.

The Tel Aviv regime accepted longstanding negotiation terms by Hamas under a Gaza ceasefire, which began on January 19.

However, Israel unilaterally abandoned the truce on March 2, cutting off humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. It also resumed its deadly bombing campaign and redeployed troops to the besieged territory.

In January 2024, the ICJ handed down a ruling, ordering Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza. In June 2024, the court said in an advisory opinion that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East al-Quds and Gaza is illegal.

Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi told the court that Israel is waging a “genocidal campaign” against Palestinians, adding that the regime’s crimes put Palestinians at risk of irreparable harm.

“Israel is starving, killing, and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives,” he noted.

Palestine’s UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour told the judges it has “never been more painful to be Palestinian.”

Israel is seeking “deliberately to deprive the population in Gaza” to ensure it has “no way to survive,” he said, adding that people are “trapped between death and displacement” in the besieged territory.

In total, 40 states and four international organizations will speak during the ICJ hearings between April 28 and May 2.

Israel is not attending the proceedings, but it has provided a written submission to the ICJ.

“It is not Israel that should be on trial,” Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar claimed, but rather the UN and UNRWA.