Few times in its history has the International Court of Justice been this busy, if ever.  For anyone ignorant of the world court’s existence till now, it has blanketed news coverage with provisional orders and advisory opinions on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.  Each order is accompanied by another layering of exasperation and, it must be said, hope that the situation on the ground will somehow alter.  The topics have been sanguinary and cruel in their consistency: starvation, the restriction of humanitarian aid, policies of racial segregation and apartheid, population displacements masquerading as evacuation orders and the possibility (to be officially ruled upon) that Israel has committed genocide in the enclave.

The 22 October advisory opinion is the first to be handed down after the cease fire centred on the straining 20-point peace plan of President Donald Trump.  The view of the Court was sought by the United Nations General Assembly in December on Israel’s obligations as both a UN member and an occupying power, towards the body’s agencies and other relevant international entities operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The request was prompted by Israel’s passage of two laws on 28 October 2024 banning any activity by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) on Israeli soil and areas of its control and prohibiting state agencies from having contact with UNRWA.  These actions effectively excluded an aid body familiar with the vicissitudes and problems of supplying assistance to Palestinian civilians, leaving the way open for the murderous invigilating model of distribution run by the US-Israeli backed Gaza........

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