High Court tells government to respond to petition on allowing aid into Gaza

The High Court of Justice tells the government to respond to a petition demanding the immediate facilitation of large supplies of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, by May 27.

The Israeli human rights group Gisha and others argued in a petition filed this week that Israel’s blockade of Gaza since March 2 constitutes a violation of its obligations under Israeli and international law to enable the provision of humanitarian supplies to Gaza’s civilian population.

In response to the petition, Justice Yosef Elron asks the government to update it within a week whether “a change in factual circumstances justifies rejecting the petition.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that “a basic quantity of food” would be allowed into Gaza, and five trucks of aid were allowed to enter the territory on Monday.

In the petition filed on Sunday, the human rights groups asserted that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is the worst it has been since the beginning of the war that started with the October 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities, and pointed to a sharp increase in the cases of child malnutrition as recorded by humanitarian organizations working in Gaza between March and April.

It also pointed out that in the state’s response to a 2024 petition by Gisha on the same issue that was ultimately dismissed by the court, the government did not deny it had an obligation to provide for the humanitarian needs of Gaza’s civilian population and the court affirmed this obligation in its decision, despite its ruling against the motion.

Gisha asserted in its petition that the government’s decision to prohibit the entry of all aid into Gaza violated the orders of the International Court of Justice in the genocide case brought by South Africa.

And the organization pointed out that the Israeli ad hoc judge on the ICJ panel, Aharon Barak voted in favor of that specific order, despite voting against most of the other court orders against Israel.

“The government’s decision [to block aid] is using a protected civilian population to exert pressure on Hamas and therefore amounts to prohibited collective punishment and even using starvation as a tool of war,” alleged Gisha in its petition.