The top United Nations court on Monday will begin hearing from 40 countries on what Israel must do to provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

The United Nations criticized Israel for its ban on aid in hearings at the International Court of Justice. Israel did not send a legal delegation and rejected the proceedings as biased.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict will again be on the agenda of the ICJ this week. Forty countries are expected in The Hague to defend their positions on humanitarian access to Gaza, where Israel has imposed a blockade since March 2,