The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday began a hearing about Israel's obligation to "ensure and facilitate" humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The case stems from a request by the United Nations General Assembly last year for the World Court to determine whether Israel is in breach of the UN Charter by banning all cooperation with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

"Israel is starving, killing, and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives," Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi told the court.

Israel has long accused the UN of bias, and its foreign minister on Monday said the UN and UNRWA should be on trial. "This case is part of a systematic persecution and delegitimization of Israel," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told journalists in Jerusalem.

Humanitarian aid in Gaza collapsing

More than 40 countries will testify during the five days of hearings in The Hague. Israel will not make an oral submission, but instead give written submissions.

In December, the General Assembly passed a resolution sponsored by Norway. It asked the ICJ "on a priority basis and with the utmost urgency" to determine Israel's obligations to "ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population."

This week's hearings come as the UN humanitarian agency OCHA called the situation in Gaza "probably the worst" it has been in the 18 months since Israel began its military campaign against Hamas, which many nations define as a terrorist organization. The militant group perpetrated the October 7, 2023, attacks in Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people and saw another 250 taken hostage.

Food shortages have been common since the war in Gaza began, with aid deliveries regularly blocked. Since Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza last month, all 25 UN-supplied bakeries making bread have been shut down. The World Food Programme said last week its food stocks in the Gaza Strip have run out.

Israel says its blockade is aimed at pressuring Hamas militants who run Gaza to release the remaining Israeli hostages captured in the October 2023 attacks. Despite this, the ICJ's advisory and non-binding opinion is not expected for months.

Israel and UNRWA's troubled relations

Israel stopped all cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem in November, claiming the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas, an allegation that has been contested. In January, Israel formally banned UNRWA from operating on Israeli soil and any contact between the organization and Israeli officials.

The UN organization significantly contributes to providing food aid, health care, and education in the occupied Palestinian territories. The UN views Gaza and the West Bank as Israeli-occupied territory.

UN Undersecretary-General for Legal Affairs Elinor Hammarskjold told the ICJ the "measures taken by the occupying power to ensure its security must be exercised in a manner that would not deny impartial humanitarian organizations such as the United Nations the ability to carry out relief schemes."

In a separate case at the court, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, a charge Israel denies. Those proceedings started in 2024 and are still underway.

"No other country — neither a democracy nor any other regime — has been brought before the ICJ as often as Israel. No other nation is subjected to such systematic double standards," the Israeli foreign minister said.

Edited by: Alex Berry