内容摘要：Several children behind a metal partition screamed and cried out for food. At one point, charity kitchen workers struggled to push people back into line.

Several children behind a metal partition screamed and cried out for food. At one point, charity kitchen workers struggled to push people back into line.

the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating.Experts say the case could have broader ramifications for the United Nations and its missions worldwide.

and ceasefire efforts remain deadlocked. Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other humanitarian supplies since March 2. It renewed its bombardment on March 18, breaking a ceasefire, and seized large parts of the territory, saying it aims to push Hamas to release more hostages.Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its war with Hamas and did not attend the hearing. The country did provide a 38-page written submission for the court to consider.The hearings focused on provision of aid to the Palestinians, but the U.N. court’s 15 judges could use their advisory opinion to give legal guidance on the powers of the world body.

“The court has the opportunity to clarify and address questions about the legal immunities of the United Nations,” Mike Becker, an expert on international human rights law at Trinity College Dublin, told The Associated Press.Advisory opinions issued by the U.N. court are described as “nonbinding” as there are no direct penalties attached to ignoring them. However, the treaty that covers the protections that countries must give to United Nations personnel says that disputes should be resolved through an advisory opinion at the ICJ and the opinion “shall be accepted as decisive by the parties.”

“The oddity of this particular process,” Becker said, “is a clear response to any argument that the opinion is nonbinding.”

The resolution, sponsored by Norway, seeks the ICJ’s guidance on “obligations of Israel … in relation to the presence and activities of the United Nations … to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population.” The United States, Israel’s closest ally, voted against it.Similar special tribunals were established after World War II, the Balkan wars sparked by the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The institution will be funded by the countries who back it, known as the Core Group, including the Netherlands, Japan and Canada. The United States had backed the project under former President Joe Biden, but President Donald Trump’s administration did not support the initiative.On Friday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a joint statement with foreign ministers from some 40 countries that technical legal work necessary to establish the tribunal is complete. It added that the court will be formalized at a Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Luxembourg later this month.

The statement was agreed in the presence of EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas in Lviv, in western Ukraine.Once established the tribunal will focus on prosecuting Russian leaders most responsible for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022.