THE top United Nations court heard today that Israel is breaching international law in the occupied Palestinian territories, as local health officials reported that Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 27 more people.

Israel has carried out daily strikes on Gaza since ending its ceasefire with Hamas last month and has also cut off the territory’s two million people from all imports, including of food and medicine, since the beginning of March.

Humanitarian workers report that supplies are running desperately low, with most people eating one meal or less a day. They reject Israeli claims that Hamas has been diverting significant quantities of aid.

In The Hague, the International Court of Justice began hearings today on Israel’s obligation to facilitate humanitarian aid to the territories it occupies.

“Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organisations trying to save their lives,” Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi told the court.

Lawyer Paul Reichler, representing the Palestinians, told judges that one of the Geneva conventions “not only lays down that the occupying power must agree to relief schemes on behalf of the population but insists that it must facilitate them by all the means at its disposal.”

The UN general assembly asked the court last year to rule on Israel’s legal responsibilities after the country blocked the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory. The court is expected to take months to reach a decision, which will not be legally binding.

In the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, an air strike hit a home, killing 10 people.

Another strike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people and wounding two.

On Sunday night, a strike hit a home in the southern city of Khan Younis, causing at least 10 deaths, including seven children.