LONDON: Lawyers representing the UK government have told the UN’s top court that Israel must allow aid supplies back into Gaza.

Speaking at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Sally Langrish, legal advisor to the UK’s Foreign Office, said Israel must also give the International Committee of the Red Cross access to Palestinian prisoners and insisted that the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees was impartial.

Her comments on Thursday were made on the fourth day of hearings at the ICJ, which was asked last year by the UN General Assembly to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s legal obligations on the operations of UN agencies and international organizations in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The hearings, which finish on Friday, have centered around Israel’s cutting off of aid supplies to Gaza and come amid dire warnings about the collapse of emergency food and water supplies to Palestinians.

“Israel must facilitate full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian provision to the population of Gaza, including food, water and electricity, and must ensure access to medical care in accordance with international humanitarian law,” Langrish told the court.

David Lammy, the UK’s foreign secretary, this week said Israel’s decision to block aid deliveries to Gaza was a “horrendous” decision that was causing dire suffering. 

On Friday, the Red Cross warned that aid operations in Gaza were on the “verge of total collapse,” describing scenes of starving children and fights over water. 

The stating of the UK’s legal position at the ICJ also came as the British government confirmed it was in talks with France and Saudi Arabia over officially recognizing the Palestinian state.

Spain, Norway and Ireland recently added themselves to the 160 countries that already recognize Palestine.

The UK was among the 137 countries to vote in favor of the UN General Assembly resolution in December to request the ICJ opinion. The US and 10 other nations voted against and 22 abstained.

The resolution was in response to Israel passing a law that effectively banned the main UN organization delivering aid to Palestinians, UNRWA, from operating in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel claims that workers at the agency took part in the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 that sparked Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza.

Langrish said the allegations of any UNRWA staff involvement in the “barbaric” Hamas attack must be thoroughly investigated. But she said the UK “supports UNRWA’s continued work and commitment to the principle of neutrality.”

She also highlighted Israel’s obligations under international law to allowing the Red Cross access to Palestinian prisoners.

Langrish said there had been “credible reports of ill-treatment of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli custody” since the war started and that Red Cross access was aimed at ensuring they are treated humanely.

That Hamas had also not allowed Red Cross access to the hostages held in Gaza was also “completely unacceptable,” she said, but added that this could not be used to justify Israel denying Red Cross access to Palestinian detainees since.

The ICJ’s opinion is expected to take months to be delivered.

At least 29 people were killed in Gaza on Friday, AFP reported, with the number of Palestinians killed in the conflict now more than 52,000. The Hamas attack in October 2023 killed 1,218 people.

TUNIS: Tunisian environmentalist Semia Labidi Gharbi, awarded a global prize for her role exposing a major waste scandal, has a message for wealthy nations: developing countries are “no dumping ground.”
Gharbi was among the first to speak out when Italy shipped more than 280 containers of waste to the North African country in 2020.
The cargo was initially labelled as recyclable plastic scrap, but customs officials found hazardous household waste — banned under Tunisian law.
“It’s true, we are developing countries,” Gharbi said in an interview with AFP. “But we are not a dumping ground.”
The 57-year-old was among seven environmentalists from different countries handed this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize — commonly known as the “Green Nobel” — in California last week.

The Goldman committee said her grassroots activism helped force Italy to take the waste back in February 2022.
Gharbi “helped spearhead a campaign that challenged a corrupt waste trafficking scheme between Italy and Tunisia,” the Goldman committee said.
And her endeavours ultimately led to the return of 6,000 tons of “illegally exported household waste back to Italy,” the US-based organization added.
The scandal took on national proportions in Tunisia and saw the sacking of then environment minister Mustapha Aroui, who was sentenced to three years in prison.
A total of 26 people, including customs officials, were prosecuted.
Yet the waste remained at the port of Sousse for more than two years, with Tunisian rights groups criticizing the authorities’ inaction as Italy failed to meet deadlines to take it back.
Global waste trade often sees industrialized nations offload rubbish in poorer countries with limited means to handle it.
“What is toxic for developed countries is toxic for us too,” said Gharbi. “We also have the right to live in a healthy environment.”
She added that while richer countries can manage their own waste, developing ones like Tunisia have “limited capacity.”
The Goldman committee said Gharbi’s campaigning helped drive reforms in the European Union.
“Her efforts spurred policy shifts within the EU, which has now tightened its procedures and regulations for waste shipments abroad,” it said.
Gharbi, who has spent 25 years campaigning on environmental threats to health, said she never set out to turn the scandal into a symbol.
“But now that it has become one, so much the better,” she said with a smile.
She hopes the award will raise the profile of Tunisian civil society, and said groups she works with across Africa see the recognition as their own.
“The prize is theirs too,” she said, adding it would help amplify advocacy and “convey messages.”