The United Nations’ top court issued a legal opinion Wednesday stating that Israel, as an occupying power, is obligated to work with UN agencies to facilitate humanitarian aid in Gaza, a rebuke of the blockade it imposed on the Palestinian enclave earlier this year, CNN reported. 

The International Court of Justice also said in its advisory opinion that the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the main UN body serving Palestinian refugees, has not violated impartiality.“The occupying power may never invoke reasons of security to justify the general suspension of all humanitarian activities in occupied territory,” Judge Iwasawa Yuji said while delivering the opinion. “After examining the evidence, the court finds that the local population in Gaza Strip has been inadequately supplied.”

The opinion was requested by the UN General Assembly in December after Israel passed laws banning UNRWA, from operating, significantly curtailing its ability to deliver aid to Gaza.

The advisory opinion – aimed at addressing Israel’s obligations to the UN, aid organizations and third-party states in the occupied West Bank and Gaza – is non-binding, but it does carry political weight and is expected to increase pressure on Israel to cooperate with the UN and other aid agencies.

Israel has accused UNRWA of having more than a thousand employees affiliated with Hamas, and of teaching hate against Israel in its schools. UNRWA has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying there are no grounds for “a blanket description” of the whole institution as being infiltrated by Hamas.