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AID ACCESS NOW


April 21, 2024

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 * Petition (Hebrew)
 * State's preliminary response (Hebrew)
 * Excerpts from State's preliminary response translated to English
 * Expert opinion by Professor Francesco Checchi
 * HCJ interim decision, April 4 (Hebrew)
 * English translation of expert legal opinion
 * State's request for an extension (Hebrew), April 10
 * HCJ decision on the state's extension request (Hebrew), April 11
 * Excerpts from State's supplementary update to the court translated to
   English, April 15
 * Petitioners' response and request for an order nisi, April 19 (Hebrew)
 * HCJ interim decision, April 21 (Hebrew)

*Update – April 21: Following the response filed by the petitioning
organizations, the court issued another interim decision (Hebrew) today in the
aid access petition. In it, the court gives the state until April 30 to submit
another supplementary update, in which it should address: (1) any developments
regarding the measures detailed in its April 15 update to the court, (2) the
status of the budget needed to implement those measures, (3) the results of
COGAT’s calculations of the minimum amount of aid needed for residents of Gaza,
and (4) the arguments made by the petitioners in their April 19 response
(Hebrew). The petitioning organizations will then have until May 2 to respond to
the state’s update. In addition, the court scheduled a second hearing on the
petition, set to take place on May 5 at 9:30 am in the High Court in Jerusalem. 

To view the interim decision (Hebrew), click here.

*

*Update – April 19: The petitioning organizations submitted their response to
the state’s supplementary update. In it, they request that the court issue an
order nisi, arguing that it should “reject the Respondents’ attempt to drag
their feet and order them to correct the situation they have created during the
long months of conducting hostilities through urgent actions that will ensure
the delivery of all necessary humanitarian aid to Gaza, without delay.”

In the conclusion of our response, the petitioning organizations emphasized that
“the Respondents’ announcement leaves no room for doubt that the State of Israel
is not meeting its obligations under international and Israeli law. The
catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip necessitates the immediate
implementation of large-scale measures. The Respondents’ update to the court
indicates that the state is taking its time, failing to see the seriousness of
the situation and denying its responsibility and duty to act hastily in order to
alleviate it.”

To view the full response by the petitioners (Hebrew), click here.

*

*Update – April 17: On April 15, the Israeli State Attorney’s Office submitted
its update to the court. In it, the state effectively admits to not having taken
meaningful steps so far to prevent the deterioration of the humanitarian crisis
in Gaza – a crisis severely exacerbated by its extensive military assault and
life-threatening shortages in basic necessities caused by a policy of deliberate
deprivation. 

The state’s update is mainly comprised of future plans and decisions that have
yet to be implemented and lack budgets or clear timelines, thus essentially
throwing dust in the court’s eyes. Israel continues to evade responsibility for
the catastrophe in Gaza and disavow its obligation to ensure distribution of aid
to civilians throughout Gaza. Instead of acting to actually alleviate the
crisis, it continues to point a finger at international humanitarian
organizations. The state’s response does not address the court’s questions
regarding its calculation of the minimum amount of aid needed for residents of
the Strip, and therefore, the data it provides regarding the volume of aid to
have entered Gaza recently is meaningless. 

The fact that Israel has so far refused to implement even the minimal measures
detailed in its update to the court, despite repeated pleas by the international
community and aid agencies, is inexcusable. Even when the steps it has announced
are implemented, they will not be sufficient without effective deconfliction for
aid convoys and humanitarian actors, and their effectiveness is doubtful in the
absence of a ceasefire. 

The humanitarian disaster in Gaza requires immediate, uninterrupted flow of aid,
and comprehensive action by the state. We hope that the court will recognize the
urgency and severity of the situation at hand, and pressure the state to do all
that it can, and all it is obligated, to do to enable a humanitarian response
and ensure full and unobstructed humanitarian access. 

To read Gisha’s unofficial translation of excerpts from the state’s April 15
supplementary update to the court, click here. To view the full update (Hebrew),
click here.

*

*Update – April 11: Despite the petitioners’ objection and the immense urgency
of the matter at hand, the court decided today to grant the state’s request for
a five-day extension. The new deadline set for the state’s update is April 15.
To view the court’s decision (Hebrew), click here.

In response to this decision, the petitioners’ representative, Adv. Osnat
Cohen-Lifshitz stated: “It is regrettable that the HCJ granted the state’s
request, allowing it to make statements about future plans instead of taking
immediate action to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe in the Strip. With
every minute that passes, the danger to lives is exacerbated and the harm to
civilians intensifies.”

*

*Update – April 10: Late on the day that had been set by the court as a deadline
for the state’s update, the state filed a motion for an extension of five days.
The petitioning organizations strongly objected to this request, stating that
“the court ordered the state to submit its update after taking into
consideration the urgent circumstances to which it relates. The respondents are
not asking for a short extension but rather, to effectively double the timeframe
allocated to them by the court – and this while they have yet to allow
unobstructed access to the north of the Strip via Gate 96, nor is there access
to clean drinking water. In light of the fact that the catastrophic humanitarian
crisis in the north of Gaza continues to cause fatal harm to children and other
vulnerable populations, the petitioners’ position is that the honorable court
should reject the state’s request and order it to submit its update
immediately.”

To view the state’s request for the extension (Hebrew), including the
petitioners’ objection (section 8), click here.

*

*Update – April 7: To read Gisha’s unofficial translation of a legal opinion
published on April 1 by a group of leading legal experts regarding Israel’s
legal status in the north of Gaza, click here.

*

*Update – April 4: Following the High Court hearing, the court ordered (Hebrew)
the state to submit additional documents pertaining to the entry and
distribution of aid to civilians in Gaza by April 10. For an unofficial
translation of the court’s interim decision from April 4, see here.

*

*Update – April 3: A hearing on the petition will take place on Thursday, April
4, at 12:00 pm in Israel’s High Court. To view the full petition (Hebrew), click
here.

To view the state’s response to the petition (Hebrew), submitted on April 2,
click here. For an unofficial English translation of excerpts from the state’s
response, click here.

To read an expert opinion provided by Professor Francesco Checchi (OBE, PhD)
from the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and International Health
at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in support of the petition,
click here.

*

March 18, 2024. This morning, five human rights organizations in Israel filed a
petition (Hebrew) calling on Israel’s High Court to order the Israeli
government, Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and the Coordinator of Government
Activities in the Territories to enable access of all humanitarian aid,
equipment and staff to Gaza, especially to the north of the Strip; to
significantly increase the volume of aid to Gaza, including by opening land
crossings between Gaza and Israel, and to provide for all the needs of the
civilian population in keeping with Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.
This in light of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the lethal harm to
civilians caused, in part, as a result of Israeli restrictions on access to aid
into and throughout the Strip. The petition was filed by Gisha together with
HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Physicians for Human Rights
Israel, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and Adalah.

Israel’s unprecedented assault on Gaza and the siege it has imposed for more
than five months since the horrific attacks of October 7 have led to utter
devastation: Some 75% of Gaza residents have been internally displaced.
Civilians, most of them women and children, are killed every day in Israeli
military attacks throughout the Strip and are dying as a result of starvation,
dehydration, the collapse of medical services, and dire sanitary conditions. The
situation is particularly extreme in areas north of Wadi Gaza, where some
300,000 residents face acute malnutrition.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza was grim before the current war, first and
foremost a result of Israel’s closure policy and its repeated military
offensives in the Strip. Israel’s decisions, post-October 7, to block the supply
of electricity, to significantly limit the supply of water and fuel, to block
all entry of goods for almost two weeks and to continue to restrict the entry of
aid into the Strip, and especially its distribution to the north, have severely
exacerbated the humanitarian crisis, harmed the functioning of critical civilian
infrastructure and created life-threatening shortages in basic necessities.
Ongoing hostilities and their widespread impact, including on agriculture, have
paralyzed industry and most food production in the Strip.

Official claims made by Israeli authorities whereby there is “no limit” to aid
entering Gaza contradict the facts on the ground: According to reports by the UN
and other international organizations, Israel is effectively preventing access
to aid by imposing obstacles during the inspection process and on the
distribution of aid throughout the Strip. Israel has systematically
denied access to the north of Gaza and failed to protect humanitarian staff from
its bombardments and other dangers posed by the collapse of civil order.

The petitioning organizations clarified that claims concerning military
necessity or diversion of aid cannot warrant restricting supply, nor justify
Israel’s violations of its obligations to facilitate aid operations, protect
civilians and treat them humanely. Measures touted by Israeli officials such as
aid drops, the opening of a sea route to Gaza or building of a costly floating
pier, which could take months, cannot answer the urgent needs of 2.2 million
Palestinians and are an attempt to throw dust in the eyes of the international
community, while continuing to evade responsibility for the crisis.

Israel’s failure to take immediate, effective steps to increase the flow of aid
to civilians throughout Gaza is a flagrant violation of its obligations under
international law both as an occupying power and as a party to the hostilities.
This failure also goes against Israeli legal precedent, and is a breach of the
provisional measure set by the International Court of Justice on facilitation of
aid: “The situation on the ground suggests that Israel is, inter alia, employing
collective punishment to a point that may amount to starvation as a weapon of
war, as well as violating other orders that impose on it the obligation to
enable swift, uninterrupted supply of needed aid and even to provide all goods
necessary for the civilian population.” The petition further states: “The fact
that children have died and continued to die in the north of Gaza as a result of
malnutrition should have shaken the respondents, the Israeli public, and the
world at large to their foundations. Instead, the respondents did nothing to
change their ways and continue to trample the basic human rights of Gaza
residents.”

To view the full petition (Hebrew), click here.

To view the state’s response to the petition (Hebrew), submitted on April 2,
click here.

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MORE PUBLICATIONS

Updates

Too little, too late: Israel announces measures to increase aid to Gaza that
have yet to be implemented

Updates

How Israel is effectively hindering access to aid in Gaza

Updates

Israel-based civil society and human rights organizations call for a ceasefire


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