Israel breaching international law by limiting Gaza aid: UNRWA official

TEHRAN (Iran News) In an interview during a recent visit to Brussels, Natalie Boucly, an UNRWA deputy commissioner general, said the whole world, including the EU and US, needed to increase the pressure on Israel’s government to ensure the unrestricted flow of aid into Gaza.

UNRWA has enough food, tents and other essentials to fill the equivalent of up to 6,000 trucks, Boucly said.

“As winter approaches and famine continues to grip the population, it is critical that all this aid is allowed into Gaza without delay,” she said. “Our supplies would be able to provide food … for the entire population for about three months. And that is sitting outside [in Jordan and Egypt], not able to come in. And that is the case for the other UN agencies because the restrictions and the constraints are still there.”

She estimated that only about half, “if that”, of the 500-600 daily truckloads needed were getting into the devastated territory.

Boucly said Israel as an occupying power was “not abiding by international humanitarian law and international human rights law”, referencing the fourth Geneva convention as well as a recent advisory opinion from the international court of justice that said Israel had to ensure the people of the occupied Palestinian territory had “the essential supplies of daily life”.

The same ICJ ruling, issued on 22 October, concluded that Israel had an obligation to cooperate with UNRWA. The court found no evidence that Unrwa lacked neutrality or that significant numbers of it staff were members of Hamas, claims repeatedly made by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Israel severed diplomatic relations with UNRWA after accusing the body of having been infiltrated by Hamas and allowing “widespread and systematic” misuse of its facilities by terrorists. The ICJ opinion noted that nine Unrwa employees were dismissed over possible involvement in the 7 October 2023 attacks but said Israel’s broader claims were not substantiated.

Boucly said she had received no indication that Israel was going to change its no-contact policy towards her agency.

UNRWA was created in 1948 to aid the 700,000 Palestinian refugees displaced in the war around the establishment of the state of Israel. It was meant to be temporary. Nearly eight decades later, UNRWA is a vital supplier of health, education, social welfare and other services in the occupied Palestine territories and neighbouring countries, where 5.9 million Palestine refugees are registered.

“It is not the time for UNRWA to collapse,” Boucly said. “We are irreplaceable because nobody can pick up the slack.”