The Palestinian group Hamas on Wednesday welcomed an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) rebuking Israel over Gaza aid restrictions, saying the ruling confirms that Israel commits acts of genocide by deliberately starving Palestinians and cannot legally enforce settlement policies in the occupied territories.
In a statement, the movement said the ICJ advisory opinion rejected Israel’s claims against the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and reaffirmed the vital humanitarian role of the agency and other UN institutions in providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
“The ICJ decision banning the use of starvation as a method of warfare confirms that the (Israeli) occupation, which deliberately starves Palestinians, is committing a form of genocide,” Hamas said.
The court also emphasised that Israel, as an occupying power, must refrain from applying its domestic laws in the Palestinian territories, effectively blocking any attempts to legalise settlements or impose facts on the ground by force, the statement added.
Hamas highlighted that the ICJ ruling underlines Israel’s obligation to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people in Gaza, calling it “a clear call for the international community to act immediately to guarantee the entry of humanitarian aid and prevent its politicisation or use as a tool of coercion by the occupation.”
The ICJ ruled on Wednesday that Israel is obliged under the Geneva Convention to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by third states and impartial humanitarian groups, including the UNRWA and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to ensure that sufficient aid reaches the Gaza Strip.
In its detailed opinion, the world court underscored that Israel, as the occupying power, carries an unconditional duty to ensure the local population’s basic needs are met.
It found that the population of Gaza has been "inadequately" supplied under Article 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and that Israel must therefore permit and assist humanitarian relief operations.
The court said that following the events of Oct. 7, 2023 – when a cross-border raid by Hamas drew a relentless offensive by Israel that killed over 68,000 people over two years – Israel severely restricted the entry of aid and even blocked the delivery of humanitarian and medical supplies starting this March 2, allowing only limited amounts to resume as of May 19.
Wednesday’s ruling was issued after the UN General Assembly in December 2024 requested an advisory opinion from the ICJ on “the obligations of Israel in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations, other international organizations and third States” in relation to the occupied Palestinian territory.
Public hearings on the case were held from April 28 to May 2, 2025, during which 39 states, the UN, and regional organizations - including the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the African Union - presented oral statements.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday also said Israel should comply with an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling directing it to ensure Palestinians have the "basic needs" to survive. "This is a very important decision. And I hope that Israel will abide by it," Guterres said when asked to respond to the ruling.
Türkiye will continue to stand with Palestinians in their just struggle: Foreign ministry
Türkiye will continue to stand with the Palestinian people in their just struggle and will resolutely support efforts to effectively implement international law and establish justice, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
A statement by the ministry came after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled earlier Wednesday that Israel is obliged under the Geneva Convention to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by third states and impartial humanitarian groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), to ensure that sufficient aid reaches the Gaza Strip.
The ICJ's advisory opinion reveals the legal violations committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, in violation of its international commitments, the ministry stated.
The ICJ's advisory opinion also demonstrated that Israel's continued violations of its international obligations, its crimes against the Palestinian people, its obstruction of humanitarian aid, and its targeting of UN facilities and personnel constitute a challenge to the international legal order, it stressed.
The court's ruling confirms the unlawfulness of the Israeli government's attempts to undermine the authority, activities, and presence of the UN and the UNRWA in the occupied territories, the ministry stated.
Türkiye has contributed to the process before the ICJ through written and oral statements, it highlighted.
Arab states condemn
Arab countries decried the Israeli Knesset’s preliminary passage of two bills on Wednesday to annex the occupied West Bank and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc in East Jerusalem as a “flagrant violation of international law.”
The Knesset approved the two bills in a preliminary reading on Wednesday. Both drafts still must pass three additional readings to become law.
In a statement, Jordanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Fouad al-Majali called the move “a flagrant violation of international law and a blow to the two-state solution, as well as to the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and to establish their independent, sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 lines, with occupied Jerusalem as its capital.”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli bills as “a blatant assault on the historical rights of the Palestinian people and a clear violation of international law and UN resolutions.”
The Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed the kingdom’s “complete rejection of all settlement and expansionist violations carried out by the Israeli occupation authorities.” It reiterated support for the Palestinian people’s “inalienable and historical right to establish an independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with relevant international legitimacy resolutions.”
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry also released a statement denouncing the Israeli measure “in the strongest terms,” calling it “a blatant violation of international law and UN Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolution 2234, which condemns Israeli settlement activity and affirms its illegality.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry likewise strongly rejected the Israeli bills, emphasising that the occupied territories in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, “form a single geographic unit, over which Israel has no sovereignty.”
“Sovereignty belongs exclusively to the Palestinian people and their leadership, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization, based on the natural, historical, and legal rights of the Palestinian people in their homeland, Palestine, and its close connection to international law, human rights, and United Nations resolutions,” it said in a statement.
The Palestinian group Hamas also rejected the Israeli bills, calling Israel’s efforts to annex the occupied West Bank “null and void.”
“The occupation’s frantic attempts to annex the West Bank are illegal and invalid. They do not change the fact that the West Bank is Palestinian land under history, international law, and the 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice,” it said in a statement.
The Knesset vote came despite opposition from US President Donald Trump, who said last month that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. It also came as US Vice President JD Vance is currently visiting Israel.
Annexing the West Bank would effectively end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as outlined in UN resolutions.
