![Josh Simmons, Senior Bureau Officer, Office of Legal Counsellor, United States Department of State makes statements as he attends the third day of the advisory opinion hearings on the illegality of Israel's restrictions on the United Nations and its organisations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands on April 30, 2025. [Mouneb Taim - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/AA-20250430-37800273-37800269-THIRD_DAY_OF_CONSULTATIONS_ON_ISRAELS_OBLIGATIONS_TO_THE_UN_AND_ITS_ORGANISATIONS_BEGINS-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Israel cannot be forced to allow the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to operate in Gaza, the United States told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) today, Reuters reports.
Israel last year passed a law that banned UNRWA from operating in the country.
The United Nations General Assembly in December asked the UN’s top court to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and international groups, including the United Nations.
At the third day of hearings on the matter, the US said Israel had the right to determine which organisations could provide basic needs to the population of the occupied Palestinian territories.
“An occupational power retains a margin of appreciation concerning which relief schemes to permit,” US State Department legal adviser Joshua Simmons said.
“Even if an organisation offering relief is an impartial humanitarian organisation, and even if it is a major actor, occupation law does not compel an occupational power to allow and facilitate that specific actor’s relief operations.”
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Simmons also stressed the “serious concerns” Israel has about UNRWA’s impartiality.
UN and Palestinian representatives at the opening of hearings on Monday had accused Israel of breaking international law by refusing to let aid into Gaza.
Since 2 March, Israel has completely cut off all supplies to the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip, and food stockpiled during a ceasefire at the start of the year has all but run out.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in Jerusalem on Monday that Israel had submitted its position in writing to the hearings, which he described as a “circus“.
Israel has repeatedly equated UNRWA staff with Hamas members in efforts to discredit them, providing no proof of the claims, while lobbying hard to have UNRWA closed as it is the only UN agency to have a specific mandate to look after the basic needs of Palestinian refugees. If the agency no longer exists, argues Israel, then the refugee issue must no longer exist, and the legitimate right for Palestinian refugees to return to their land will be unnecessary. Israel has denied that right of return since the late 1940s, even though its own membership of the UN was made conditional upon Palestinian refugees being allowed to return to their homes and land.
READ: Over 50 UNRWA employees detained, abused, tortured by Israel