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ICJ orders Israel to ensure ‘unhindered provision’ of Gaza aid flows, warns famine is 'setting in'

ICJ orders Israel to ensure ‘unhindered provision’ of Gaza aid flows, warns famine is 'setting in'
Victoria O’Regan
By Victoria O’Regan
29 Mar 2024
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The International Court of Justice, in response to South Africa’s request for additional provisional measures, has issued fresh orders calling on Israel to let humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to desist from obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza as famine sets in, ordering it to increase the number of land crossing points for humanitarian supplies and provide its “full cooperation” to the United Nations. 

In response to South Africa’s application for additional provisional measures on 6 March 2024, the ICJ on Thursday, 28 March, found that the situation in the Gaza Strip had deteriorated significantly since the court’s initial order of 26 January. 

“The Court recalls that, in its Order of 26 January 2024, it concluded that the civilian population in Gaza was extremely vulnerable, noting that many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip had ‘no access to the most basic foodstuffs, potable water, electricity, essential medicines or heating’.

“The Court observes with regret that, since then, the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been subjected,” the ICJ said on Thursday.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Middle East crisis

The court said that Palestinians in Gaza were “no longer facing only a risk of famine”, as it noted in its initial order of 26 January, “but that famine is setting in”.

The “exceptionally grave” developments in Gaza, the court said, constituted a change in the situation within the meaning of Article 76 of the Rules of the Court – necessitating further provisional measures. 

In its fresh ruling, 16 ICJ judges unanimously ordered Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza”.

This included Israel “increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points, and maintaining them open for as long as necessary”.




Additionally, the ICJ – by 15 votes to one – ordered Israel to: “Ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group” under the Genocide Conventions, including by preventing the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid.

Israel is required to file a report to the court on the measures taken to adhere to this order by 28 April.

South Africa’s 6 March request for provisional measures noted the urgent need to prevent the threat of “full-scale” famine in Gaza, pleading with the court to act, before it was too late, “to do what is within its power to save Palestinians in Gaza from genocidal starvation”. Israel opposed South Africa’s application, accusing it of being a “misrepresentation of reality”.

Pretoria welcomed the fresh orders on Thursday, saying the impact of the order “is significant”.

“The fact that Palestinian deaths are not solely caused by bombardment and ground attacks, but also by disease and starvation, indicates a need to protect the group's right to exist. The most effective way to uphold this right is through prevention. The Court's actions include specific responsibilities to prevent genocide,” read a statement from the Presidency. 



Israel’s order comes as international aid organisations continue to sound the alarm about starvation in Gaza. Among the evidence the court noted in its order was a report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which found that famine is imminent in northern Gaza and is projected to occur any time between mid-March and May 2024.

Calls for ceasefire


On 26 January, South Africa persuaded the ICJ that there was a plausible case of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza.

The court ordered Israel to prevent genocide, to prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and to increase humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza. But it stopped short of ordering Israel to implement a ceasefire in Gaza, which was the maximum provisional measure South Africa had called for.

It also called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages captured in its attack on Israel on 7 October.

Read more in Daily Maverick: How South Africa seeks an order to stop the carnage in Gaza and prevent a genocide

According to Dr Atilla Kisla, the international justice cluster lead for the Southern Africa Litigation Centre, the court’s fresh provision with respect to humanitarian aid is much more detailed than that contained in its initial order of 26 January. 

“On the aspect of whether this order will help SA’s case on the merits. This order again is aimed to protect the rights of the Palestinians as a protected group under the Genocide Convention. Whether and to what extent these developments will have an impact on the merits of the case will be seen once we get to that stage. But the order from yesterday certainly provides a factual update that the situation is getting worse and famine is setting in.

“We are still at the stage of provisional measures and the court’s order from yesterday, same like the one from 26 Jan, is not concerned with the question whether Israel is guilty of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention,” said Kisla. 

Accompanying the ICJ order on Thursday, several judges made striking declarations on the war in separate opinions. Four of the 16 ICJ judges – including South Africa’s Judge Dire Tladi – issued a joint declaration conveying their disappointment that the court had not explicitly ordered a ceasefire. 

“In our view, the present scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the overwhelming consensus that, without the suspension of military operations, this catastrophe will even worsen, constitute circumstances that require the Court to explicitly order a suspension of military operations.

“We agree with the factual finding of the Court. In our opinion, however, the Court’s factual finding should have led it to decide that Israel must suspend its military operations in a way so as to give full effect to its obligations under this Order. Much to our regret, the measure indicated in subparagraph (2) (b) does not extend far enough to make that point explicitly,” they said.

Additionally, in a separate declaration Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf from Somali warned of indicators of genocide. “The alarm has now been sounded by the Court. All the indicators of genocidal activities are flashing red in Gaza.”

The ICJ also noted the UN Security Council resolution, which passed on Monday, 25 March, calling for “an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire”. DM

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