US backs Israel's ban on UNRWA Gaza aid operations at World Court

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Israel cannot be forced to allow the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to operate in Gaza, the United States said on Wednesday at a World Court hearing in The Hague.

Israel last year passed a law that banned UNRWA from operating in the country, as it said the organisation had employed members of Hamas who took part in the attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The U.N. said in August that nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the assault and had been fired. Another Hamas commander, confirmed by UNRWA as one of its employees, was killed in Gaza in October, according to Israel.

The United Nations General Assembly in December asked the U.N.'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 U.S. 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," U.S. 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."

Simmons also stressed the "serious concerns" Israel has about UNRWA's impartiality.

U.N. 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 March 2, 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".

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Alex Richardson)