Rights group slams High Court for terse response to its appeal for more Gaza aid

The Gisha human rights group upbraids the High Court of Justice for its laconic response to a petition the organization filed asking the court to order the government to facilitate the large-scale delivery of aid to Gaza, in light of reports by humanitarian groups of a growing crisis in the territory.

Gisha filed its petition on Sunday, but the court only responded today, and gave the state another week to respond.

The wording of the decision, issued by conservative judge Yosef Elron, was also formulated somewhat unusually, asking the state in an anticipatory manner if it wished to argue that circumstances have changed since the petition was filed.

*We didn’t have high expectations from the court, but we could still be hopeful that the court might begin to take itself seriously in light of the utter humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip and the state’s role in creating and sustaining it,” says Gisha executive director Tania Hary.

“Instead of the requisite urgency, the court granted the state a full week to respond and even directed it to argue that the factual situation has changed so that it could dismiss the petition.

“Remedy for Gaza’s civilian population, who are deliberately being deprived of food, medicine, and other essential aid vital for their survival, will apparently not come from Israel’s High Court. It will need to come from international pressure.”

After denying entry to all humanitarian aid since March 2, the government allowed five trucks into Gaza on Monday and today gave permission for some 100 aid trucks to enter the territory.