Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of blocking aid in violation of UN court order

A makeshift tent camp in Rafah for Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip (Mohammed Dahman/AP)

Israel has failed to comply with an order by the United Nations’ top court to provide urgently needed aid to desperate people in the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch said, a month after a landmark ruling in The Hague ordered Israel to moderate its war.

In a preliminary response to a South African petition accusing Israel of genocide, the UN’s top court ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza.