Foreign Ministry says it is working to up aid into Gaza after ICJ order

Israel’s Foreign Ministry says the country will continue looking for new ways to facilitate the entry of increased aid into Gaza, after the International Court of Justice ordered it to increase the provision of basic humanitarian goods to the Gaza Strip, including food, water, fuel and shelter, due to what it said are worsening living conditions for Palestinians in the war-torn territory.

“Israel will continue to promote new initiatives, and to expand existing ones, in order to enable and facilitate the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip in a continuous and extensive manner, by land, air, and sea, together with UN bodies and other partners in the international community,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Hayat says in a statement posted on X. “This includes ongoing efforts to increase the scale, and means of access for such aid despite the operational challenges on the ground and Hamas׳s active and abhorrent efforts to commandeer, hoard, and steal aid.”

“Israel is committed to meeting its legal obligations, including with respect to humanitarian assistance,” it adds.

At the same time, the Foreign Ministry appears to reject the premise for South Africa’s application to the ICJ for measures aimed at stopping what Pretoria contends in a genocide taking place in Gaza.

“South Africa has failed yet again in its cynical attempts to exploit the ICJ in order to undermine Israel’s inherent right and obligation to defend its citizens from the ongoing Hamas attacks and to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza in brutal captivity,” Hayat writes.

The statement blames Hamas for dire conditions in the Strip, noting that it triggered the war with the October 7 onslaught and continued abduction of people kidnapped from Israel.

“Israel goes to great lengths in order to mitigate the harm to the civilian population while fighting Hamas, in the complicated circumstances that Hamas created. To this day, Hamas terrorists continue to attack the citizens of Israel and are using the civilian population of Gaza as human shields. Hamas displays utter disdain for international law and the lives of civilians, Israelis and Palestinians alike, and deliberately harms the humanitarian efforts aimed at helping the population of Gaza,” the statement reads.