The International Court of Justice has announced that Israel cannot use starvation as a method of warfare and must ensure the basic needs of the people in Gaza are met. According to the United Nations, more than half a million people in Gaza are facing starvation and the ICJ has ruled that Israel has an obligation to address this.

The advisory opinion handed down by the ICJ's 11-person panel in The Hague is in response to a request made by the UN General Assembly last year. The top UN court was asked to weigh-in on Israeli restrictions on aid delivery and its decision to ban UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

The court found that as an occupying power, Israel is obliged to protect and fulfil the human rights of the population of the occupied Palestinian territory. 

"The court further observes that Israel itself has not ensured that the population of the Gaza Strip is adequately supplied," said Yuji Iwasawa, the President of the ICJ.

"The court recalls that in addition to severely restricting the entry of aid at various times after October 7 2023, Israel blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza starting from March 2 2025, and only allowed the delivery of a limited amount of it to resume on May 19 2025," he added.

The court stated that as such a significant facilitator of humanitarian aid, Israel has an obligation to continue working with UNRWA. The court also dismissed allegations that UNRWA has been infiltrated by Hamas, stating that there is no evidence to suggest that the entity breached its principles of impartiality.

"The court finds that Israel has not substantiated its allegations that a significant part of employees are members of Hamas or other terrorist factions," Iwasawa said.

Israel resoundingly rejects the findings. The country's UN Ambassador Danny Danon has called Wednesday's advisory opinion "shameful" and Israel has consistently denied that it has violated international law. 

"They are blaming Israel for not cooperating with UN organs… they should be blaming themselves," Danon added.

The court has ruled that Israel's obligations have increased due to the effective control it has over the Palestinian enclave. The judges found that while Israel has a right to decide which humanitarian partners it works with, efforts are currently falling short of the needs on the ground. 

"The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a purported replacement for UNRWA, has been widely criticized by the United Nations and other international actors, and its operations have been alleged to be inconsistent with core humanitarian principles," Iwasawa said during Wednesday's session. 

The opinion handed down by the ICJ is not legally binding and won't be backed up with any enforcement measures. The onus is on the international community to decide how to respond.