GENEVA (Dispatches) – South Africa on Tuesday told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that the Zionist regime is using starvation as a weapon against Palestinians in the occupied territories, breaching its international obligations.
“International law prohibits the Zionist regime from the use of starvation as a method of warfare, including under siege or blockade, Israel may not collectively punish the protected Palestinian population, which it holds under unlawful occupation,” South Africa’s representative Jaymion Hendricks said on day two of public hearings in The Hague.
Hendricks said the occupying regime has “deployed the full range of techniques of hunger and starvation, perfecting the degree of control suffering and death that it can cause through food systems, leading to this moment of genocide. Despite the horrific attempts by Israeli officials to characterize them otherwise, Palestinians are human beings.”
He emphasized that Israel “must therefore cooperate in good faith with the United Nations and render it every assistance,” and that it “must comply with its obligations as an occupying power to ensure food and medical suppliers and facilitate the unhindered provision of humanitarian goods, essential services and development assistance by the UN, third states and other international organizations.”
Algerian representative Samia Bourouba urged the ICJ to “declare that Israel is in breach of its legal obligations as a member of the UN with regard to the organization and as an occupying power.”
Bourouba decried the lack of a response against Israeli actions.
“In view of the violations committed by Israel, we are witnessing a lack of effective reaction from the international community,” she said.
Maya Sahli Fadel, also representing Algeria, stressed that humanitarian aid should never be used as “a political bargaining chip or a weapon of war.”
Saudi Arabia told the ICJ that the Zionist regime has disregarded the court’s legally binding provisional orders and worsened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
“The court’s ruling marked a clear path for Israel to follow and finally bringing itself into international legality,” said Mohammed Saud Alnasser, the Saudi representative at the hearings, referring to a March 2024 ruling ordering Israel to allow the “unhindered provision” of aid to Gaza.
“Sadly, but predictably, Israel chose to ignore the court’s ruling, showing that it considered itself above the law.”
Alnasser said Israel “ignored those orders, as it has similar calls made by other UN bodies, international organizations and concerned states,” and instead “has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis and turned the Gaza Strip into an unlivable pile of rubble, while killing thousands of innocent and vulnerable people.”
Citing Israel’s responsibilities towards UN premises in Gaza, he said: “Israel’s failure to guarantee the inviolability of UN premises can never be justified on grounds of military expediency or national security.”