The International Court of Justice on Wednesday issued a non-binding opinion advising Israel to cooperate with United Nations relief efforts in Gaza and the West Bank and refrain from impeding them. The Hague-based court issued the opinion at the request of the U.N. General Assembly. It follows Israeli efforts during the war in Gaza to ban the U.N. agency in charge of Palestinian aid amid claims by Israel that the organization, known as UNWRA, had been infiltrated by members of Hamas.
As Jonathan Lincoln wrote in WPR in April, the past two years have seen “an unprecedented deterioration in relations between Israel and the United Nations.” Given the depth of the U.N.’s involvement not only in Gaza and the West Bank, but also in helping to stabilize Israel’s neighbors Syria and Lebanon, repairing the relationship between the international body and Israel “will be vital for the maintenance of any ceasefire and for a stable post-conflict environment, which is in everyone’s interests,” Lincoln argued.
