What is the International Court of Justice and why is it weighing in on humanitarian aid in Gaza?

The International court of Justice delivers a non-binding ruling on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. (AFP)
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Updated 27 April 2025
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What is the International Court of Justice and why is it weighing in on humanitarian aid in Gaza?

  • Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry
  • The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute those responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities

THE HAGUE: The top United Nations court on Monday will begin hearing from 40 countries on what Israel must do to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Last year, the UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice to weigh in on Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, voted against the resolution.
Israel over a month ago again cut off all aid to Gaza and its over 2 million people. Israel has disputed that there is a shortage of aid in Gaza, and says it is entitled to block the aid because it says Hamas seizes it for its own use.
The Hague-based court has been asked to give an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally definitive answer, in the latest judicial proceedings involving Israel and the 18-month war in Gaza. That is expected to take several months.
What is the International Court of Justice?
Set up in the aftermath of World War II, the ICJ is an organ of the UN and adjudicates disputes between countries. Certain UN bodies, including the General Assembly, can request advisory opinions from the court’s 15 judges.
All 193 UN member states are members of the ICJ, though not all of them automatically recognize its jurisdiction.
Last year, the court issued an unprecedented and sweeping condemnation of Israel’s rule over the occupied Palestinian territories, finding Israel’s presence unlawful and calling for it to end. The UN General Assembly sought the opinion after a Palestinian request. The ICJ said Israel had no right to sovereignty in the territories, was violating international laws against acquiring territory by force and was impeding Palestinians’ right to self-determination.
Two decades ago, the court in another advisory opinion held that Israel was violating international law by constructing a barrier between Israel and the West Bank. That opinion, also requested by the UN General Assembly, dismissed Israeli arguments that the wall was needed for security.
Israel has not participated in previous advisory opinion hearings but has submitted written statements.
What is the genocide case that Israel is facing at the ICJ?
South Africa went to the court last year to accuse Israel of genocide over its actions in the war in Gaza, which began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many are civilians or combatants. The offensive has reduced much of Gaza to rubble, and most of its people remain homeless.
Israel rejects South Africa’s claim and accuses it of providing political cover for Hamas.
South Africa also asked judges to make nine urgent orders known as provisional measures. They are aimed at protecting civilians in Gaza while the court considers the legal arguments.
The court has ruled several times on that request, including ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza. The proceedings are ongoing and likely to take years to reach a conclusion.
How is the ICJ different from the International Criminal Court?
The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 as the court of last resort to prosecute those responsible for the world’s most heinous atrocities: war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.
While the ICJ deals with disputes between two or more countries, the ICC seeks to hold individuals criminally responsible.
In November, a three-judge panel issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’ military chief, Mohammed Deif, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.
The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas, charges Israeli officials deny.
The warrant marked the first time a sitting leader of a major Western ally has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the global court of justice and has sparked major pushback from supporters of Israel, including the US
Israel and its top ally, the United States, are not members of the court. However, Palestine is, and judges ruled in 2021 that the court had jurisdiction over crimes committed on Palestinian territory.


Trump calls for deal on Gaza war as signs of progress emerge

Updated 29 June 2025
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Trump calls for deal on Gaza war as signs of progress emerge

  • ‘MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!’ Trump wrote on his social media platform
  • The Israeli military on Sunday ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza

TEL AVIV: US President Donald Trump on Sunday pleaded for progress in ceasefire talks in the war in Gaza, calling for a deal that would halt the fighting in the 20-monthlong conflict as the sides appeared to be inching closer to an agreement.

An Israeli official said plans were being made for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to travel to Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks, a sign there may be movement on a new deal. The official declined to discuss the focus of the visit and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss plans that had not yet been finalized.

“MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social early Sunday between posts about a Senate vote on his tax and spending cuts bill.

Trump raised expectations Friday for a deal, saying there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters, he said, “We’re working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.”

Trump has repeatedly called for Israel and Hamas to end the war in Gaza. Despite an eight-week ceasefire reached just as Trump was taking office earlier this year, attempts since then to bring the sides toward a new agreement have failed.

A top adviser to Netanyahu, Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, was set to travel to Washington this week for talks on a ceasefire.

Trump post slams Netanyahu corruption trial

The Gaza message wasn’t the only Middle East-related post by Trump. On Saturday evening, he doubled down on his criticism of the legal proceedings against Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, calling it “a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure.”

In the post on Truth Social, he said the trial interfered with talks on a Gaza ceasefire.

“(Netanyahu) is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back. How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING,” Trump wrote.

The post echoed similar remarks Trump made last week when he called for the trial to be canceled. It was a dramatic interference by an international ally in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. And it unnerved many in Israel, despite Trump’s popularity in the country.

Israeli military orders new evacuations in northern Gaza

The Israeli military on Sunday ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians in large swathes of northern Gaza, an early target of the war that has been severely damaged by multiple rounds of fighting.

Col. Avichay Adraee, a military spokesperson, posted the order on social media. It includes multiple neighborhoods in eastern and northern Gaza City, as well as Jabaliya refugee camp.

The military will expand its escalating attacks to the city’s northern section, calling for people to move southward to the Muwasi area in southern Gaza, Adraee said.

After being all but emptied earlier in the war, hundreds of thousands of people are in northern Gaza following their return during a ceasefire earlier this year.

An Israeli military offensive currently underway aims to move Palestinians to southern Gaza so forces can more freely operate to combat militants. Rights groups say their movement would amount to forcible transfer.

A sticking point over how the war ends

The war in Gaza began with Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas in which militants killed 1,200 people and took roughly 250 hostages, about 50 of whom remain captive with less than half believed to be alive.

Israel’s retaliatory response has killed more than 56,000 people, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between militants and civilians in their count but say more than half of the dead are women and children.

The war has set off a humanitarian catastrophe, displaced most of Gaza’s population, often multiple times, and obliterated much of the territory’s urban landscape.

Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over one major sticking point, whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement.

Hamas says it is willing to free all the hostages in exchange for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and an end to the war. Israel rejects that offer, saying it will agree to end the war if Hamas disarms and goes into exile, something the group refuses.


Netanyahu ‘must go’, says former Israeli PM Bennett

Updated 29 June 2025
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Netanyahu ‘must go’, says former Israeli PM Bennett

  • Former PM Naftali Bennett: Netanyahu ‘has been in power for 20 years... that’s too much, it’s not healthy’

JERUSALEM: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must leave office, his predecessor Naftali Bennett has told a televised interview, refusing to say whether he intends to challenge the country’s longest-serving leader in an election.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that aired on Saturday, former prime minister Bennett said Netanyahu “has been in power for 20 years... that’s too much, it’s not healthy.”

“He bears... heavy responsibility for the divisions in Israeli society,” Bennett said of growing rifts within Israel under Netanyahu, who has a strong support base but also staunch opponents who have demanded his departure including over his handling of the Gaza war since October 2023.

Netanyahu “must go,” said the former prime minister, a right-wing leader who in 2021 joined forces with Netanyahu critics to form a coalition that ousted him from the premiership after 12 consecutive years at the helm.

But the fragile coalition government Bennett had led along with current opposition chief Yair Lapid collapsed after about a year. Snap elections ensued, and Netanyahu again assumed the premiership with backing from far-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

Bennett, who has taken time off from politics, has been rumored to be planning a comeback, with public opinion polls suggesting he may have enough support to oust Netanyahu again.

No vote is currently planned before late 2026, however, although early elections are common in Israel.

In his Saturday interview, Bennett claimed credit for laying the groundwork for Israel’s bombardment campaign earlier this month against Iranian nuclear and military sites.

The decision to launch attacks against the Islamic republic “was very good” and “needed,” said Bennett, claiming that the offensive would not have been possible without the work of his short-lived government.

In Gaza, where Israel has waged war since Hamas’s October 2023 attack, Bennett said the military has displayed “exceptional” performance but “the political management of the country” was “a catastrophe, a disaster.”

Criticizing the Netanyahu government’s “inability to decide,” the former prime minister called for an immediate “comprehensive” agreement that would see all remaining hostages freed from Gaza.

“Leave the task of eliminating Hamas to a future government,” said Bennett, who also evaded several questions about whether he intends to run for office.


Sudan civil war overwhelms border town in neighbor Chad as refugees find little help

Updated 29 June 2025
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Sudan civil war overwhelms border town in neighbor Chad as refugees find little help

  • 235,000 Sudanese in a border town
  • Sudanese try to fill aid gaps

ADRE, Chad: Fatima Omas Abdullah wakes up every morning with aches and pains from sleeping on bare ground for almost two years. She did not expect Sudan’s civil war to displace her for so long into neighboring Chad.
“There is nothing here,” she said, crying and shaking the straw door of her makeshift home. Since April 2023, she has been in the Adre transit camp a few hundred meters from the Sudanese border, along with almost a quarter-million others fleeing the fighting.
Now the US- backed aid system that kept hundreds of thousands like Abdullah alive on the edge of one of the world’s most devastating wars is fraying. Under the Trump administration, key foreign aid has been slashed and funding withdrawn from United Nations programs that feed, treat and shelter refugees.
In 2024, the US contributed $39.3 million to the emergency response in Chad. So far this year, it has contributed about $6.8 million, the UN says. Overall, only 13 percent of the requested money to support refugees in Chad this year has come in from all donors, according to UN data.
In Adre, humanitarian services were already limited as refugees are meant to move to more established camps deeper inside Chad.
Many Sudanese, however, choose to stay. Some are heartened by the military’s recent successes against rival paramilitary forces in the capital, Khartoum. They have swelled the population of this remote, arid community that was never meant to hold so many. Prices have shot up. Competition over water is growing.
Adre isn’t alone. As the fighting inside Sudan’s remote Darfur region shifts, the stream of refugees has created a new, more isolated transit camp called Tine. Since late April, 46,000 people have arrived.
With the aid cuts, there is even less to offer them there.

235,000 Sudanese in a border town
Adre has become a fragile frontline for an estimated 235,000 Sudanese. They are among the 1.2 million who have fled into eastern Chad.
Before the civil war, Adre was a town of about 40,000. As Sudanese began to arrive, sympathetic residents with longtime cross-border ties offered them land.
Now there is a sea of markets and shelters, along with signs of Sudanese intending to stay. Some refugees are constructing multi-story buildings.
Sudanese-run businesses form one of Adre’s largest markets. Locals and refugees barter in Sudanese pounds for everything from produce to watches.
“There is respect between the communities,” said resident Asadiq Hamid Abdullah, who runs a donkey cart. “But everyone is complaining that the food is more expensive.”
Chad is one of the world’s poorest countries, with almost 50 percent of the population living below the poverty line.
Locals say the price of water has quadrupled since the start of Sudan’s civil war as demand rises. Sudanese women told The Associated Press that fights had broken out at the few water pumps for them, installed by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.
Even food aid could run out shortly. The UN World Food Program says funding to support Sudanese refugees in Adre is guaranteed only until July, as the US aid cuts force a 30 percent reduction in staff worldwide. The UN refugee agency has seen 30 percent of its funding cut for this area, eastern Chad.
Samia Ahmed, who cradled her 3-year-old and was pregnant with her second child, said she has found work cleaning and doing laundry because the WFP rations don’t last the month.
“I see a gloomy future,” she said.

Sudanese try to fill aid gaps
Sudanese are trying to fill gaps in aid, running private schools and their own humanitarian area with a health clinic and women’s center.
Local and UN authorities, however, are increasing the pressure on them to leave Adre. There are too many people here, they say.
“A vast city,” said Hamit Hadjer Abdullai with Chad’s National Commission for the Reception and Reintegration of Refugees.
He said crime was increasing. Police warn of the Colombians, a Sudanese gang. Locals said it operates with impunity, though Abdullai claimed that seven leaders have been jailed.
“People must move,” said Benoit Kayembe Mukendi, the UN refugee agency’s local representative. “For security reasons and for their protection.”
As the Chadian population begins to demand their land back, Mukendi warned of a bigger security issue ahead.
But most Sudanese won’t go. The AP spoke to dozens who said they had been relocated to camps and returned to Adre to be closer to their homeland and the transit camp’s economic opportunities.
There are risks. Zohal Abdullah Hamad was relocated but returned to run a coffee stand. One day, a nearby argument escalated and gunfire broke out. Hamad was shot in the gut.
“I became cold. I was immobile,” she said, crying as she recalled the pain. She said she has closed her business.
The latest Sudanese arrivals to Adre have no chance to establish themselves. On the order of local authorities, they are moved immediately to other camps. The UN said it is transporting 2,000 of them a day.

In Tine, arriving Sudanese find nothing
The new and rapidly growing camp of Tine, around 180 kilometers (111 miles) north of Adre, has seen 46,000 refugees arrive since late April from Northern Darfur.
Their sheer numbers caused a UN refugee representative to gasp.
Thousands jostle for meager portions of food distributed by community kitchens. They sleep on the ground in the open desert, shaded by branches and strips of fabric. They bring witness accounts of attacks in Zamzam and El-Fasher: rape, robbery, relatives shot before their eyes.
With the US aid cuts, the UN and partners cannot respond as before, when people began to pour into Adre after the start of the war, UN representative Jean Paul Habamungu Samvura said.
“If we have another Adre here … it will be a nightmare.”


France offers to help make Gaza food distribution safer

Updated 29 June 2025
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France offers to help make Gaza food distribution safer

  • Barrot expressed anger over "the 500 people who have lost their life in food distribution" in Gaza in recent weeks

PARIS: France “stands ready, Europe as well, to contribute to the safety of food distribution” in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Saturday.
His comments came as criticism grew over mounting civilian deaths at Israeli-backed food distribution centers in the territory.
Such an initiative, he added, would also deal with Israeli concerns that armed groups such as Hamas were getting hold of the aid.
Barrot expressed anger over “the 500 people who have lost their life in food distribution” in Gaza in recent weeks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyanu on Friday denounced as a “blood libel” a report in left-leaning daily Haaretz alleging that military commanders had ordered soldiers to fire at Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza
Aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday denounced the Israel- and US-backed food distribution effort in Gaza as “slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid.”
And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that hungry people in Gaza seeking food must not face a “death sentence.”
The health ministry in Gaza, a territory controlled by Hamas, says that since late May, more than 500 people have been killed near aid centers while seeking scarce supplies.
 

 


Iran could again enrich uranium ‘in matter of months’: IAEA chief

Updated 29 June 2025
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Iran could again enrich uranium ‘in matter of months’: IAEA chief

  • “They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday

WASHINGTON: UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite damage to several nuclear facilities from US and Israeli attacks, CBS News said Saturday.
Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon — an ambition the Islamic republic has consistently denied.
The United States subsequently bombed three key facilities used for Tehran’s atomic program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is “serious,” but the details are unknown. US President Donald Trump insisted Iran’s nuclear program had been set back “decades.”
But Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said “some is still standing.”
“They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,” Grossi said Friday, according to a transcript of the interview released Saturday.
Another key question is whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6-kilo (900-pound) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks.
The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent — above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade. That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.
Grossi admitted to CBS: “We don’t know where this material could be.”
“So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification,” he said in the interview.
For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA and Tehran rejected Grossi’s request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordo, the main uranium enrichment facility.
“We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened,” Grossi said.
In a separate interview with Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program, Trump said he did not think the stockpile had been moved.
“It’s a very hard thing to do plus we didn’t give much notice,” he said, according to excerpts of the interview. “They didn’t move anything.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday underscored Washington’s support for “the IAEA’s critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran,” commending Grossi and his agency for their “dedication and professionalism.”
The full Grossi interview will air on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday.