By Yadnom Awu /Asaba
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, today, ruled that Israel, as the occupying power, had an obligation to facilitate the basic needs of Palestinians.
It also said that while Israel had failed to meet its obligation to Palestinians under the Rome Convention, it had also impeded the inflow of enough humanitarian supplies into Gaza.
In a unanimous judgment, all eleven judges said that Israel, by its conduct, had broken all international humanitarian laws .
According to them, Israel had not proved its allegation that much of the aid meant for Gaza was hijacked and stolen by the militant group, Hamas.
They added that the Jewish state also failed to prove that a significant number of staff of the United Nations Relief a d Works Agency ( UNRWA),were members of Hamas as it had alleged.
Consequently, the ICJ urged Israel to do more to facilitate access of Palestinians to the basic necessities of food, water and medicines.
Today’s verdict followed the institution of a charge of weaponisation of food and other humanitarian supplies by more than 40 countries against Israel at the ICJ.
The verdict is the third time that Israel has been indicted by the ICJ , but the Jewish state has yet to comply with its non- binding rulings.
