International People’s Tribunal calls ICJ’s Gaza aid order 'too little, too late'

By A Representative 

The International People’s Tribunal has described the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) recent advisory opinion ordering Israel to cooperate with the United Nations and allow aid into Gaza as “too little, too late,” criticizing what it calls the continued failure of global institutions to act decisively in the face of ongoing atrocities in Gaza.

The Tribunal, which will convene in Barcelona on November 22–23, welcomed the ICJ’s October 22 opinion requiring Israel to permit humanitarian agencies such as UNRWA to deliver aid under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups. The opinion follows renewed Israeli airstrikes that have killed at least 87 Palestinians and cut humanitarian aid by half. The Court also stated that Israel has used starvation as a method of war — a rare acknowledgment of the humanitarian crisis facing Gaza.

In its statement, the Tribunal argued that while the ICJ’s position marks a stronger rebuke of Israel than before, it still fails to address the deeper causes of Gaza’s devastation. “Even as the ICJ’s recent opinion goes further than it has previously against the occupying power of Israel, it still is effectively only a slap on the wrist,” said Edre Olalia, president of the International Alliance of Democratic Lawyers. He added that the decision overlooks both the environmental destruction that has rendered over 98 percent of Gaza’s farmland unusable and the Palestinian right to resist occupation under international law.

The Tribunal also pointed to Israel’s continued efforts to discredit UNRWA and other international agencies through unsubstantiated allegations of terrorist affiliations. The ICJ noted that these claims remain unproven but, given the non-binding nature of its ruling, has no authority to lift restrictions on UNRWA’s operations in Gaza.

“Occupations have never been ended through these so-called legal decisions, but rather through political movements in solidarity with the resistance and the resistance itself,” said Azra Sayeed, Secretary-General of the International League of People’s Struggle.

The International People’s Tribunal for Palestine is a civil society initiative organized by the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, the International Peoples’ Front, and the Peoples’ Coalition on Food Sovereignty, with cooperation from the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the Palestine Land Studies Centre. The Tribunal seeks to document crimes against the Palestinian people, mobilize international solidarity, and exert moral and political pressure on complicit governments and global institutions.