The hearings come as Israel deprives Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of aid in yet another violation of international law under its genocidal war on the territory.
Qatar is scheduled to address the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday over Israel’s humanitarian obligations towards Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where starvation has reached alarming levels under the complete aid blockade.
According to the schedule released by the United Nations, Qatar will participate in the oral proceedings at 4:45pm local time. The hearings had started on Monday, April 28, with representatives from the UN, Palestine, Egypt and Malaysia.
The court proceedings came after a request last December by the UN General Assembly for the ICJ’s advisory opinion “on the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities” of the UN and other organisations.
Qatar, which has played a critical mediation role between Hamas and Israel, was among more than 20 countries that filed the request.
While the advisory opinion is non-binding, it shows countries’ policies against Israel’s global reputation given its ongoing occupation of Palestine and violations of Palestinians’ rights.
The hearings come as Israel deprives Palestinians in the Gaza Strip of aid in yet another violation of international law under its genocidal war on the territory.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed at least 61,700 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, with the figure feared to be higher with thousands still trapped under the rubble, presumed dead or still undiscovered.
The figure does not include those who died as a result of Israel’s complete blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Ammar Hijazi, Palestine’s ambassador to international organisations in the Netherlands, told the ICJ on Monday that Israel is “destroying the fundamentals of life”.
“I stand before you today on behalf of a persecuted people, fighting to survive and to live freely in our land. This is our inalienable and most fundamental right. It is not anyone’s to give or withhold, as this Court has repeatedly affirmed,” Hijazi said.
“Israel has been systemically dispossessing, uprooting, slaughtering, and imprisoning Palestinians in absolute, flagrant disregard for international law and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people for nearly 80 years,” he added.
The United States has also backed the actions of its ally, Israel, in banning crucial organisations, most notably the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), during the hearings on Wednesday.
“Even if an organisation offering relief is an impartial humanitarian organisation, and even if it is a major actor, occupation law does not compel an occupational power to allow and facilitate that specific actor’s relief operations,” Joshua Simmons, U.S. State Department legal adviser, told the Court.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Amnesty International called out Israel’s “livestreamed” genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“Year after year, we have warned of the dangers of human rights backsliding. But events of the past 12 months – not least Israel’s livestreamed but unheeded genocide of Palestinians in Gaza – have laid bare just how hellish the world can be for so many when the most powerful states,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said in a new report.
