Human Rights Watch: Israel blocking aid to Palestinians, violating UN court order

Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of blocking aid to Palestinians in violation of a United Nations court order issued last month that ruled Israel must contain civilian deaths in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch said the Israeli government “failed to comply with at least one measure” in last month’s order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The preliminary ruling was issued in response to a plea from South Africa to order a cease-fire in Gaza and halt the displacement of the Palestinian people.

The ICJ said in a preliminary ruling that Israel must take all steps necessary to protect against the killing of Palestinian civilians, limit the physical destruction of infrastructure and increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Human Rights Watch said that one month after the order was issued, Israel “continues to obstruct the provision of basic services and the entry and distribution within Gaza of fuel and lifesaving aid.”

“The Israeli government is starving Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, putting them in even more peril than before the World Court’s binding order,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch. “The Israeli government has simply ignored the court’s ruling, and in some ways even intensified its repression, including further blocking lifesaving aid.”

The ruling stopped short of demanding a cease-fire in the region but ordered Israel to submit a report within one month on the measures it has implemented. It’s not clear whether Israel has submitted the report yet.

Human Rights Watch cited the drop in the daily number of aid trucks going into Gaza in its accusations. The organization said there were only 93 aid trucks between Jan. 27 and Feb. 21 while there were 147 trucks sent in from Jan. 1-26.

“Israel’s blatant disregard for the World Court’s order poses a direct challenge to the rules-based international order,” Shakir said. “Failure to ensure Israel’s compliance puts the lives of millions of Palestinians at risk and threatens to undermine the institutions charged with ensuring respect for international law and the system that ensures civilian protection worldwide.”

Nearly 30,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the onset of the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The accusation from the humanitarian group comes as Israel is preparing to enter Rafah — a city in southern Gaza where an estimated 1.4 million civilians are taking refuge.

The Associated Press reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said his country’s war cabinet approved a plan to deliver humanitarian aid safely into Gaza that would “prevent the cases of looting.”

The White House continued to sound the alarm bells over the Netanyahu’s plans to invade Rafah. The Biden administration has repeatedly urged Israel not to move forward with the operation in Gaza without an effective plan to evacuate civilians from harm’s way.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that the White House has not seen any plan to evacuate civilians.

Netanyahu said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that going into Rafah “has to be done,” adding that once operations in the city start, “total victory” against the militant group Hamas will be “weeks away.”

The Associated Press contributed.