The Court must use its authority to compel Israel to halt its aggression and to prevent third-party states from providing any support to it.
The Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine commented on the start of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings for the member states› pleadings, in preparation for ruling on the request submitted by the United Nations General Assembly regarding Israel’s obstruction of cooperation with the UN and its agencies in the occupied Palestinian territories, stating:
We welcome the commencement of the International Court of Justice’s first hearings to listen to the pleadings of the member states regarding Israel’s violations of international law and its failure to comply with the Court’s resolutions. We consider Israel’s appearance before the Court, in itself, to be a condemnation of Israel for its numerous crimes. Furthermore, the reaction of the Israeli Foreign Minister, calling for the prosecution of the United Nations and UNRWA before the International Court of Justice, constitutes a blatant disregard for the international judicial and legal system and a failed attempt to pressure the Court›s judges.
The participation of so many UN member states and international organizations in presenting pleadings regarding Israeli laws that violate international law affirms the position of the international community and its rejection of Israel›s practices and crimes. The participation of 43 states and international organizations in the hearings reflects the stance of 137 countries that had voted for a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (December 2024).
The decision that will be issued by the Court after the pleadings presented by the member states is not merely an advisory opinion, as is being claimed, but rather a binding decision on Israel, based on Article 8 of the «Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations (1946),» Article 105 of the United Nations Charter, Resolution 302 establishing the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), and the text of the resolution by the General Assembly renewing UNRWA’s mandate.
Therefore, we call upon the judges of the Court to make broad use of their powers, in a manner that compels Israel to halt its aggression and prevents third-party states from providing any support to it.
We also call on them to listen — even briefly — to the cries of the wounded, the hungry, and the thirsty among Gaza’s children and women, who are hoping for an awakening of the world›s conscience to end the crimes of the age being committed against them by Israeli fascism.
While recognizing the importance of the strong and coherent stance presented by the United Nations and its various institutions — in rejecting the Israeli law that bans UNRWA’s activities and those of any of its agencies — experience has shown that relying solely on the language of «soft diplomacy» will neither deter Israel nor push it to retreat from its crimes against international law, the United Nations, and the Palestinian people.
Rather, what is needed now goes beyond mere reproach and condemnation — especially since there are historical precedents where the United Nations was able to prevail against states that rebelled against international law and its legal and judicial framework.
The International Court of Justice must pay serious attention to the judgments it has previously issued — judgments that Israel has not respected, as it continued to commit war crimes and to use hunger and thirst as weapons to pressure the Palestinian people.
Therefore, the Court is required to hold Israel accountable for its failure to take any measures to prevent acts of genocide and to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza (January 2024), as well as for failing to adopt new measures to prevent famine in Gaza (March 2024).
A close examination of the war crimes committed since the issuance of the first ruling until today confirms that dozens of massacres have been carried out against civilians, resulting in the martyrdom and injury of thousands — the vast majority of whom are children and women — in a clear and blatant challenge to the Court and its decisions.
The International Court of Justice is required not only to describe the reality regarding Israel’s breach of its commitments and obligations to respect international organizations and to provide all necessary facilities for their missions› success, but also: to call for the annulment of the Knesset law that bans the activities of UNRWA in the occupied Palestinian territories, to call upon third-party states to stop all forms of support to Israel in its violations of international law, And to mobilize full support for UNRWA, as it is the only international organization capable of providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, who are suffering from a real famine resulting from Israeli decisions made at the highest governmental and military levels.
This affirms that Israel is deliberately using starvation and thirst as weapons of war to achieve political goals — an act that in itself constitutes a war crime that must not go unpunished.