Norway seeks ICJ opinion on Israel's UNRWA shutdown decision

Norway wants the International Court of Justice to issue an advisory opinion on Israel’s decision to shut down the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides humanitarian services to Palestinian Refugees in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

It’s unacceptable “that the UN, international humanitarian organizations, and states continue to face systematic obstacles when working in Palestine and delivering humanitarian assistance to Palestinians under occupation,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told the media on Tuesday.

He spoke less than a day after the Knesset overwhelmingly approved two bills that would make it impossible for UNRWA, which has operated in those areas since 1949, to provide services to Palestinians.

Store said that Norway would first seek a UN General Assembly resolution requesting an ICJ opinion. The international community has a collective responsibility to help Palestinians, he said.

“We are therefore requesting that The International Court of Justice (ICJ) pronounces on Israel’s obligations to facilitate humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, delivered by international organizations, including the UN, and states,” he explained.

PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to many empty seats at the UN General Assembly, last Friday. Netanyahu encountered a cold diplomatic shower, with one chair in particular vacant – that of Saudi Arabia, the writer points out. (credit: Mike Segar/Reuters)

Potential US consequences

The State Department and the Pentagon warned that there “could be consequences under US law and US policy” for the closing of UNRWA.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “We are going to engage with the Government of Israel in the days ahead about how they plan to implement it. We’ll watch and see if there are legal challenges to the law, and if there’s any impact by those legal challenges, and then we will make our decisions after looking at all those factors.”

He noted that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had already warned Israel against taking such a step, in a letter he wrote Israel earlier this month detailing actions Israel had to take to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk restricted military assistance.

Israel has “a legal obligation” to “allow humanitarian assistance” into Gaza and the West Bank, Miller said.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Joseph Borrell said he was “gravely concerned.” Such a step is in “stark contradiction to international law and the fundamental humanitarian principle of humanity.” He warned that the cessation of UNRWA operations would “only exacerbate an already severe humanitarian crisis, potentially halting essential services such as food, shelter, education and healthcare for millions of Palestinian refugees in these territories.”

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British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said it was “totally wrong” to close UNRWA. “Alongside international partners, the UK has been clear Israel must ensure UNRWA can deliver aid at the speed and scale needed to address the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.:”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing his concern.

The Israeli Right has long opposed UNRWA warning that it helps ensure an ever-expanding population of refugees and taking issue with incitement and antisemitism in the education material in its schools.

Opposition to UNRWA in Israel has grown in the last year as the government has charged that some of the organization’s staff were involved in the kidnapping of Israelis on October 7 and that other staff members are Hamas and Hezbollah operatives.

UNRWA operates under a mandate from the UN General Assembly and only that body can shut it down. Israel, however, has the power to close its operations in the territory it controls, and on Monday night, it passed legislation that would shutter the organization within 90 days.

In doing so it has not provided an alternative to the $1.2 billion in services that UNRWA provides. It is possible that under international law, Israel would now have the financial responsibility to finance those services. The bills have 90 days before they go into effect.