The International Court of Justice, a U.N. agency in The Hague, set five days of public hearings, starting late this month, in the U.N. General Assembly’s case against Israel for banning the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
The General Assembly passed a resolution in December by a 137-12 vote seeking an advisory opinion from the court about Israel’s anti-UNRWA laws, which the Knesset passed in October and which took effect in January. (There were 22 abstentions in the General Assembly vote.)
The court is to assess Israel’s responsibility, as a U.N. member state, to provide and facilitate essential services and humanitarian assistance for the population in what the United Nations calls the “occupied territories,” according to the resolution.
One of the Israeli laws banned UNRWA, whose ties to Gazan terror groups Israel has documented, from operating in the Jewish state, including throughout Jerusalem. The United Nations considers part of the Jewish capital to be Palestinian territory.
The Israeli law mandated that all UNRWA facilities, including administrative offices, schools and health clinics, be shuttered.
Earlier this week, Israeli authorities gave six UNRWA educational institutions in Jerusalem notice that they will be closed in 30 days.
The other Israeli law forbids officials of the Jewish state from communicating with UNRWA officials. The United Nations has said that these developments will make it very hard, if not impossible, for UNRWA to carry out its work in Gaza. UNRWA operates under a mandate from the U.N. General Assembly.
The hearing is slated to run from April 28 to May 2, with 44 states and four international organizations scheduled to present statements. Israel does not plan to participate. The United States does.
Almost all of the first day of hearings is reserved for testimony by the United Nations and the Palestinian Authority.
The court has previously provided non-binding opinions on issues regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including a ruling last year declaring Israeli presence in eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria to be illegal.
A pending case brought by South Africa accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
