Israel's 'genocidal campaign' targeted UN, aid workers, groups in Gaza: Palestinian envoy at ICJ hearings

The Palestinian Envoy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accused Israel, on Monday, of deliberately targeting humanitarian groups and carrying out a “genocidal campaign” against Palestinians in Gaza.

Ammar Hijazi, the State of Palestine’s Ambassador to International Organisations in the Netherlands, said Israeli forces had killed over 408 UN workers, including almost 300 staff of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), as well as dozens of paramedics and first responders.

“These killings are deliberate, not accidental,” he told public hearings on Israel’s obligations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, citing attacks in which Israeli forces ambushed and killed humanitarian workers before burying them in mass graves.

He told the Court that “the blockade (in Gaza) has progressively turned into a total siege” since October 2023, warning that Gaza’s civilian population is being starved and deprived of basic necessities.

“Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians, while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organisations trying to save their lives,” he added.

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He said the siege has created conditions “incompatible with sustaining life or the continued existence of Palestinians in Gaza,” highlighting catastrophic shortages of food, water, medical supplies and safe shelter.

Israel is an unlawful occupying power standing trial for genocide. Its Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) is wanted by the ICC (International Criminal Court)

Hijazi said, calling the situation part of a broader effort to erase the Palestinian presence.

UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Elinor Hammarskjold, told the ICJ on behalf of the UN that Israel must comply with its obligations under international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to allow the UN to fulfil its humanitarian mandates.

Hammarskjold said “no humanitarian aid or commercial goods have been allowed into Gaza since the second of March, which has devastating humanitarian consequences in the Gaza Strip”, noting that 295 UN personnel have died in Gaza since October 2023.

She underlined that Israel, as the Occupying power, has an “overarching obligation to administer the Territory for the benefit of the local population” and must “agree to and facilitate relief schemes”, stressing that humanitarian and UN personnel “must be respected and protected” under international law.

She added that Israel’s recent legislation affecting UNRWA operations constitutes “an extension of sovereignty over or exercise sovereign powers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, and that such measures “are inconsistent with Israel’s obligation under international law”.

Highlighting the inviolability of UN premises, Hammarskjold said: “State officials, including members of the armed forces and domestic law enforcement authorities, may not enter United Nations premises without authorisation by the United Nations.”

“Respect for international law by all parties remains the only option for lasting peace, as well as for the security and justice of Israelis and Palestinians,” she added.

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Civilians in ‘endless death loop’

Paul Reichler, representing Palestine at the ICJ, branded Gaza as “a killing field”, with civilians “in an endless death loop”.

Reichler warned that “the current path is a dead end, totally intolerable in the eyes of international law and history”, and cautioned against the risk of “the Occupied West Bank transforming into another Gaza”.

“In these circumstances, there can be no doubt that Israel is violating its obligations under international humanitarian law, including obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and customary international law,” he said.

He added:

People in Gaza are being starved to death, and we are all witnessing it, if not complicit in it. But this human tragedy is a deliberate choice. It is the consequence of a political decision. It is both avoidable and reversible

Calling for international action, he emphasized that Israeli authorities must ensure complete and unfettered access to humanitarian goods throughout Gaza, adding: “Human dignity simply cannot be held hostage to conflict”.

“The inhumanity of this Israeli policy is compounded by its unlawful objective to forever extinguish the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including a sovereign and independent State in their own territory as part of the two-state solution that the international community demands,” he said.

‘Largest child amputee, orphan crisis in modern history’

Gaza is now home to “the largest cohort of child amputees in the world” and “the largest orphan crisis in modern history,” lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, representing Palestine, told the ICJ.

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Ni Ghralaigh said Israel’s violations have been “unprecedented”. She accused Israel of systematically attacking the UN, obstructing humanitarian work and targeting UN officials, premises and aid missions, in breach of international law.

“Israel is failing to fulfil its charter responsibilities in good faith,” she stated, emphasizing that its actions against UN agencies and staff are “unprecedented in the history of the organisation”.

She detailed widespread abuses, including Israel’s “forcible entry into UN schools”, “seizure and often violent shuttering of UN premises” and “obstruction or prohibition of the movement of Palestinian UN staff” in Gaza and the West Bank. She also cited attacks on UN food stores, humanitarian convoys and shelters, calling these a violation of Israel’s obligations under multiple international treaties.

Violations against UN staff included “killing, injuring, and unlawfully detaining them and subjecting them to violent interrogation and ill-treatment, including severe beatings, water-boarding, deprivation of food and water and threats of extreme harm to their families,” she said.

Israel’s actions, Ni Ghralaigh stressed, also constitute “serious breaches” under the 1973 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons.

UNRWA ‘last hope’ for Palestinian survival

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees represents “the last hope that the Palestinian people … have of surviving Israel’s genocide,” Ardi Imseis, representing Palestine, told the ICJ hearing.

Imseis said the elimination of UNRWA was “essential to the success of Israel’s dreaded plans”, due to the Agency’s unmatched role in providing life-saving aid and stability.

“Given the scope of capabilities in providing emergency relief, stability and resilience to the Palestinian population in ways that no other organisation can operationally do, it is painfully obvious why Israel insists on eliminating the Agency,” he said.

He stressed that UNRWA’s operations and mandate are critical, warning that “any interruption or suspension of its work would have severe humanitarian consequences for millions of Palestinian refugees who depend on the Agency’s services and also implications for the region.”

Imseis argued that Israel is not only bound to respect UNRWA’s work, but is legally obligated to support it.

“Israel is required to facilitate and expand, not ban, disrupt or attack UNRWA operations in the Palestinian Occupied Territory,” he said.

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‘Help us deliver justice’

Riyad Mansour, Palestine’s Ambassador to the UN in New York, urged states and the Court to help deliver justice for millions of Palestinians in the face of Israel’s “monstrous” actions.

“Israel’s inhuman and truly monstrous behaviour towards the Palestinians living in the Occupied Territory leaves no room for doubt,” Mansour told the hearing. “It consists of a multitude of internationally illegal acts, which clearly entail both the aggravated responsibility of Israel itself and consequences for other states and international organisations.”

He decried the devastating toll on Palestinians, especially in Gaza, where more than 2 million people, half of them children, are paying “the ultimate price for our collective inability to end injustice”.

“Help us deliver justice. Help us to move in that direction and to have justice for the Palestinian people,” he appealed to the states and judges.

The ICJ is holding hearings this week to assess Israel’s legal obligations for the provision of humanitarian aid and the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, following a request from the UN General Assembly.

Representatives from 40 countries and four international organisations are expected to present oral submissions during the proceedings, including Turkiye, Malaysia, South Africa, China, Russia, Spain, Ireland, Brazil, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Key organisations, including the UN, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the Arab League, will also contribute.

Israel, which is among the countries that submitted written statements, will not make an oral submission during the hearings.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the ICJ for its war on the Gaza Strip, which since October 2023 has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians and reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defines Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

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