World slams Israel's annexation plan, hails ICJ ruling
While the ICJ’s ruling was welcomed by Türkiye, the UN and Palestinian resistance group Hamas, the Israeli annexation plan was equally condemned by several countries.
The ICJ ruled 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 Gaza.
In its detailed opinion on Wednesday, the world court underscored that Israel, as the occupying power, carries an unconditional duty to ensure the local population’s basic needs are met.
Meanwhile, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed a bill in its preliminary reading to annex the occupied West Bank.
While the ICJ’s ruling was welcomed by Türkiye, the UN and Palestinian resistance group Hamas, the Israeli annexation plan was equally condemned by several countries.
Hamas
Hamas rebuked 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.
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.”
Türkiye
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.
Türkiye has contributed to the process before the ICJ through written and oral statements, it highlighted.
UN
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres 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.
Condemnations of Israeli annexation
Türkiye
Israeli parliament's step towards annexation of occupied West Bank is contrary to international law, Turkish Foreign Ministry said, calling it “null and void”.
Jordan
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
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.”
Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed “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.”
Palestine
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry 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.”
Hamas
The Palestinian group Hamas 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.