The international rules that govern war, occupation, and humanitarian relief are being tested this week at the International Court of Justice. Israel’s decision to ban a UN agency from working in the Occupied Palestinian Territories has sparked a global legal challenge, with forty-five countries and organisations—Malaysia included—weighing in at this week’s public hearings at The Hague. On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Datuk Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus, President of Mercy Malaysia.
00:00Hi, welcome back to Consider This. I'm Melissa Idris.
00:14Today, the International Court of Justice opened public hearings at The Hague.
00:1945 countries and international organizations, including Malaysia, will submit arguments at the hearing,
00:26which was initially triggered by the unprecedented move of Israel in banning a UN agency from operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.
00:37So joining us now to discuss this further is Datuk Dr. Ahmad Faizal Muhammad Berdas, who is the president of Mercy Malaysia.
00:43Dr. Faizal, thank you for being on the show.
00:45The public hearings at the ICJ this week stems from concerns that Israel is systematically blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza.
00:55Can you talk to me a little bit about how important it is that the international legal system is now being asked to examine these obstacles more formally?
01:06Right. Thank you, Melissa and Astro.
01:08So, first and foremost, Israel's act to disallow and make illegal the UN agency for the rehabilitation and works for the Palestinian refugees, UNRWA,
01:26in the occupied Palestinian territories, has been taken by everyone in the world except for Israel and Israel's strongest allies.
01:35And really, no legal grounds and no even moral grounds, if you like.
01:40If we go back a little bit in time, and just very briefly, if people can remember that there were allegations back in late 2023 that UNRWA was for terrorists,
01:54that some of its staff were Hamas members, allegations that were never really proven 100% on paper.
02:02And in fact, the United Nations, at the instructions of the Secretary General himself, had conducted a thorough investigation,
02:09had suspended the alleged members of the Hamas network, and later found that there was no support for any of the Israeli allegations.
02:20Despite Israel continued to ban UNRWA and had, late last year, 2024, formally in the Knesset, in the Israeli parliament, to ban UNRWA from operating.
02:36Now, this means that the biggest agency, with the biggest responsibility, thousands, literally thousands of institutions, both schools, clinics, as well as development centers for Palestinian refugees,
02:52in the occupied Palestinian, also in Lebanon, in Syria, etc., were made to be illegal in Israeli eyes.
03:02Now, this has been compounded, of course, over the last few months, especially, by Israel's conduct towards all humanitarian aid,
03:11and by Israel's refusal to recognize that humanitarian aid agencies, both UN and non-UN,
03:19actually have a protected right under international humanitarian law to actually deliver aid.
03:25And the delivery of humanitarian aid is actually a provision, given assurance, under international humanitarian law.
03:31And, of course, over the last 55, 56 days now, after the end of the ceasefire that was brokered early in the year,
03:41as President Trump came into office, it's now over 55, 56 days that Israel has not only broken the ceasefire,
03:48bombed Gaza again, but also blockaded totally any delivery of any sort of aid,
03:56any sort of organized aid, through any of the crossings, either Rafah or Karim Shalom or others,
04:02leaving the Palestinians and aid agencies, including other UN agencies, not just UNRWA,
04:08but also WFP, WHO, and everybody else, short of aid supplies.
04:13In fact, WFP has already said that they are very short of food and will run out soon.
04:21So this has meant that, on top of military pressure, starvation, malnutrition, dehydration,
04:29which have been imposed upon the people of Gaza, deliberately has been shown to be purposefully done by the Israelis,
04:40which by itself constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law and therefore qualifies as a war crime.
04:47Dr. Faisal, you talked about how humanitarian aid is protected under international humanitarian law.
04:55Talk to me a little bit about the fact that since Israel passed that law to ban UNRWA from operating inside the occupied Palestinian territories,
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