THE HAGUE: A top Palestinian official told the United Nations top court on Monday that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza as a “weapon of war.”
Kicking off a week of hearings at the International Court of Justice about Israel’s obligations to United Nations aid agencies, Ammar Hijazi told judges: “Starvation is here. Humanitarian aid is being used as a weapon of war.”
The ICJ is holding a week of hearings over Israel’s obligations to the UN, including aid agencies, in war-ravaged Gaza before delivering a non-binding “advisory opinion.”
Dozens of countries and organizations will address the 15-judge panel in a marathon set of hearings.
Israel is not participating in the hearings but its ally the United States will take part on Wednesday.
“All UN-supported bakeries in Gaza have been forced to shut their doors. Nine of every ten Palestinians have no access to safe drinking water,” said Hijazi.
“Storage facilities of the UN and other international agencies are empty.”
Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war.
The UN estimates 500,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the two-month ceasefire ended in mid-March.
The UN has asked the ICJ to rule “with the utmost urgency” on the case but will likely take several months to reach its opinion.
Judges will consider Israel’s legal obligations toward the UN and its agencies, international organizations or third-party states to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population.”
Although the ICJ’s advisory opinions are not legally binding, the court believes they “carry great legal weight and moral authority.”
Israel using aid blockage as ‘weapon of war’ Palestinian official tells ICJ
https://arab.news/jzntd
Israel using aid blockage as ‘weapon of war’ Palestinian official tells ICJ
- United Nations’ highest court is opening hearings into Israel’s obligation to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians
- Some 40 countries are expected to participate in a week of hearings starting Monday
Sentences of up to 15 years for Tunisian synagogue attack
- Two other defendants, whose exact roles were not disclosed, were sentenced to seven and 15 years’ imprisonment, with the heavier penalty given out because the defendant had fled justice, according to the lawyer
TUNIS: Tunisian courts handed down prison sentences of up to 15 years to five defendants tied to a deadly May 2023 attack on a synagogue on the island of Djerba, one of their lawyers told AFP Monday.
The attack on the Ghriba synagogue left five people dead, not including the assailant, a National Guard officer, who was killed during the attack.
A student and the attacker’s fiancee, who were prosecuted for “complicity in homicide” and “membership in a terrorist group,” were sentenced to three and eight years in prison respectively, said Nizar Ayed, lawyer for several victims of the attack.
According to Ayed, the assailant acted “as a lone wolf.”
Two other defendants, whose exact roles were not disclosed, were sentenced to seven and 15 years’ imprisonment, with the heavier penalty given out because the defendant had fled justice, according to the lawyer.
The assailant’s sister, currently out on bail, was sentenced to one year in prison.
The defense for the accused will appeal, Mustapha Mlaouah, the fiancee’s lawyer, said.
On May 9, 2023, the attacker killed three of his colleagues as well as two Jewish worshippers, Aviel Haddad, a 30-year-old Tunisian, and his cousin Benjamin, a 42-year-old French national.
He shot dead one colleague while working at the island’s port and then drove to the synagogue, about 20 kilometers away, where hundreds of people were taking part in the third day of an annual Jewish pilgrimage.
There he killed the two Jewish men and wounded several officers providing security, two of whom died later from their wounds.
The student’s mother told AFP during a hearing that her family merely rented a studio to the assailant.
“I sometimes cooked for him and asked my son to take him food — our generosity backfired on us,” said Latifa Jlidi.
Before independence in 1956, Tunisia had more than 100,000 Jews, but the community has since dwindled to around 1,500 members, the great majority living in Djerba.
