The Palestinian flag flew outside the International Court of Justice, which filed a hearing with the United Nations to provide advice on Israel's obligation to allow humanitarian assistance in Gaza and the West Bank. Peter Dejong/ap Closed subtitles
The Hague, Netherlands - Israel must provide assistance to Gaza, but the country does not have to cooperate with the UN Palestinian refugees, the United States told the International Court of Justice on Wednesday.
The United Nations Supreme Court held a week's hearing on what Israel has done to provide urgently needed humanitarian assistance to Gaza and the occupied West Bank after its advisory comments last year.
The United States said Israel has reasonable concerns about the UN relief and engineering agency, also known as the UN relief engineer, also known as the aid provider surrounding the troubled Gaza Strip.
"All in all, there is no law that requires that a specific third state or international organization be allowed to operate in occupied territories, which will harm its security interests," Josh Simmons, a legal counsel for the State Department, told the Hager-based court.
Simmons suggests other organizations can fulfill their near-outdoor mission.
In January, Israel banned the agency from operating on its territory. Israel claims that in the UNRWC, about 13,000 employees in Gaza participated in Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and starting the war in Gaza.
Federal hospitals said the conclusions reached by the investigation within the United Nations were that although the evidence was not certified or confirmed. Israel later claimed that about 100 other Palestinians in Gaza were Hamas members, but never provided any evidence to the United Nations.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar defeated the case on Monday. "I blame the relief, the United Nations, I blame the Secretary-General, and all weapons that weapons against international law and its institutions to deprive the world's most attacked country, Israel, is the most basic defense of its rights," he said in a press conference in Jerusalem.
Israel did not attend the hearing, but did submit written arguments.
Speaking directly in the United States, the Russian Federation said that UNRWA's work is crucial to the Palestinian people and the agency has supported the majority of the international community. "The urgency of this matter cannot be exaggerated. Gaza's balance on the brink of famine. Hospitals are in ruins. Millions of Palestinians in the (Gaza) Strip, and the existence despair of the West Bank and East Jerusalem," Maksim Musikhin of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Court 15.
Musikhin then suggested that the Foreign Rescue Agency (UNRWA) receive the Nobel Peace Prize for its work.
The hearing is underway as Gaza’s humanitarian aid system is about to collapse and the ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked. Since March 2, Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies. It updated its bombing on March 18, breaking the ceasefire and occupying much of the territory, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages.
The World Food Program said last week that its food stocks in the Gaza Strip had been used up, ending the main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Many families are working hard to support their children.
On Monday, Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi accused Israel of violating international law in the occupied territory.
"Israel is starving, killing and displaced, while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save lives," he told the court.