Israel has no legal right to obstruct aid in Gaza: International law expert
In international law, Israel’s presence in Gaza and the occupied West Bank is in and of itself illegal, according to Ralph Wilde, professor of international law at University College London.
He told Al Jazeera from Montevideo that it is a violation of self-determination and law on use of force, so it is an “aggression”.
“In consequence, Israel has no legal right even to be there in the first place, and no legal right to operate any restrictions preventing others, whether the UN states or aid organisations, from entering Gaza and providing aid.”
Wilde said Israel has an international law obligation to ensure that the Palestinian people of Gaza do not starve.
The only way it can discharge that legal obligation is to either withdraw completely as it is legally required to do, or to provide the necessary aid or allow others to do so.
“Israel is doing neither of those things,” he said, adding that it has been working with the US on the “sham operation” that is GHF to provide limited aid “through this sadistic Hunger Games-style process where people risk being killed or at least maimed by the very actors from whom they must obtain food”.
All states have legal obligations to stop Israel’s war crimes in Gaza: Professor
We have more from international law professor Ralph Wilde on the situation created by Israel in Gaza.
He said it meets the legal test in international law for what is referred to as “intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival”.
“This is a serious violation of the laws of war on the parts of Israel and the US and everyone involved including the mercenaries working for the GHF and the Israeli soldiers, and the leaders of Israel and the US,” he told Al Jazeera.
The professor, who also served as senior council on behalf of the Arab League at the International Court of Justice, said “it is not only a war crime, it is also a crime against humanity and it is part of genocide”.
“All states have positive obligations in international law to take action to bring the violations to an end, and they must take every mechanism available to them as a matter of obligation, not discretion,” Wilde said, adding that this requires sanctions against Israel.
