UN top court rules Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, calls for its end

Israel was ‘under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers’ from occupied land: ICJ

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A Palestinian boy stands on the rubble of buildings in Khan Yunis. The UN’s top court on Friday said Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was “illegal” and needed to end as soon as possible. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:38pm, 19 Jul 2024Updated: 12:49am, 20 Jul 2024

The UN’s top court on Friday said Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was “illegal” and needed to end as soon as possible.

The advisory opinion of The Hague-based is not binding, but it comes amid mounting concern over Israel’s war against Hamas sparked by the group’s brutal October 7 attacks.

“The court has found that Israel’s continued presence in the Palestinian Territories is illegal,” International Court of Justice presiding judge Nawaf Salam said, adding: “Israel must end the occupation as rapidly as possible.”

The ICJ added that Israel was “under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers” from occupied land.

Judge and President of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam (second from right) delivers a non-binding ruling on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation. Photo: AFP

Israel’s policies and practices, including the building of new settlements and its continued maintenance of a wall between the territories “amount to annexation of large parts” of the occupied territory, it said.