Ardi Imseis, a legal representative for the State of Palestine at the ICJ, explains that Israel is bound by obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law as an occupying power in the Palestinian territories.

In effect, Israel must operate in “the best interests of the occupied Palestinian population”, he told Al Jazeera from The Hague, where today’s ICJ hearing took place. “That isn’t in fact what’s happening – it’s quite the opposite.”

Imseis noted that Palestinians face forcible transfer, starvation as a weapon of conflict and indiscriminate bombardment “in ways and means that are really unprecedented in the history of the Palestinian people”.

“The submissions that were made today focused on the [international humanitarian law] obligations”, he said, including the facilitation of “relief schemes for the benefit of the occupied population”.

“This is part of a longer process of holding — in this case — an illegal occupying power, an aggressive power, to account,” Imseis added.