Israel Due To Respond To Court Petition On Gaza Aid Increase
Sumaira FH Published April 10, 2024 | 10:00 AM
Jerusalem, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Apr, 2024) Israel faces a Wednesday deadline to present to the country's top court measures to increase aid into the besieged Gaza Strip, where hunger is spreading after more than six months of war.
Five non-profit groups have taken the state to court, accusing authorities of restricting the entry of relief items and failing to respect their "obligations as an occupying power" to provide basic necessities to Gazans.
Israel, which has been fighting militants in the Hamas-ruled territory since the October 7 attack, has insisted it does not limit aid supplies and blames shortages on a lack of distribution by aid agencies and charities within Gaza.
"Contrary to Israel's claims that there was no limit on entry of aid to Gaza, several policy choices are hindering" aid delivery, said Miriam Marmur, of rights group Gisha, one of the plaintiffs.
She said that following a hearing last week, the Supreme Court ordered the government to provide an update by Wednesday regarding steps taken to increase the flow of humanitarian goods.
Once the state submits its response, "the petitioning organisations will be given five days to respond to it, after which the court could give its ruling", Marmur told AFP.
While Israel has largely blamed the United Nations for not distributing aid properly inside Gaza, UN and humanitarian officials have denounced restrictions and administrative brakes on the entry of severely needed supplies.
Officials point to UN figures of at least 500 aid and commercial trucks a day entering Gaza before the war.
On Tuesday, Israeli authorities said 468 trucks had been let in, the highest reported number since the current fighting began.
A spokesman for the United Nations' humanitarian office, OCHA, pointed to statistics from March showing that it was much more difficult to get clearance for delivering food into Gaza than other aid.
"Food convoys that should be going particularly to the north, where 70 percent of people face famine conditions, are... three times more likely to be denied than any other humanitarian convoys with other kinds of material," Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
- Dire needs -
Marmur hit out at the blocking of "dual-use" items that Israel says could be used for military purposes, a long-standing policy that predates the current fighting.
Despite withdrawing from the coastal territory in 2005, Israel has maintained control over its borders and imposed a crippling blockade when Hamas seized power two years later.
Jean-Raphael Poitou, of Action Against Hunger, told AFP that "solar panels and generators, for instance" are included in the banned list of "dual-use" items.
"It's the sort of thing we need to be able to meet needs in Gaza more efficiently," he said.
Alexandre Fort, logistics coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said that despite Israeli claims that aid was being increased, getting supplies into the territory was a long and arduous process.
And Poitou was cautious on recent signals from Israeli authorities that the Erez crossing in Gaza's north -- where needs are highest -- could soon be reopened.
"We'd have to see how this would be concretely enacted," he said.
Some countries have turned to airdropping aid, a method experts criticised as dangerous and inefficient, with scores of Gazans killed in stampedes, drownings and when a parachute malfunctioned.
Turkey on Monday said Israel had denied its request to join the aid drops.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Senate adopts Special Committee's 4 recommendations about Money Bill
Alcaraz passes 'test of fire', Sabalenka survives in Madrid Open
ATC awards punishment for terror accused with 14 year imprisonment
US stocks rise on tech outlook as yen rebounds
Mayor seeks proposals from town chairmen for OZT
Balighur Rehman condoles with Saira Afzal Tarar
Intermittent rains, snow falls paralyze normal life in AJK
NICVD world’s largest cardiac healthcare network: Prof Tahir claims
Significance of Indus river highlighted by civil society members
Digitalized medicine purchasing system launched to ensure transparency
DC visits water supply schemes, drainage disposal in Nawabshah
Philips settles US sleep machine cases for $1.1 billion
More Stories From World
-
'It swept everything': Kenya villagers count toll of dam deluge
34 minutes ago -
Nine face trial in Germany for alleged far-right coup plot
34 minutes ago -
Kenya Airways suspends flights to Kinshasa over DR Congo detentions
2 hours ago -
'I walked and walked': Ukrainian grandmother, 97, flees bombed village
2 hours ago -
Forty-day ceasefire offered to Hamas: UK foreign secretary
2 hours ago -
Six convicted amid fury over wildfires that killed 104 at Greek resort
2 hours ago
-
Takeover of Italy's Ariston a response to 'hostile actions': Russia
2 hours ago -
IsDB, Arab Coordination Group, SFD join Global Partnership to raise $500 million for education initi ..
2 hours ago -
Struggling Turkish grocery app Getir exits US, Europe
1 hour ago -
Rubiales denies 'irregularities' in Spanish football corruption probe
1 hour ago -
China strongly condemns perpetrators of atrocity in Gaza
3 hours ago -
Scotland's first minister Yousaf quits after a year
3 hours ago