The United States has said at a World Court hearing in The Hague that Israel cannot be forced to allow the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA to operate in Gaza, Reuters reports.

At the third day of hearings on the matter, the US said Israel had the right to determine which organisations could provide basic needs to the population of the occupied Palestinian territories.

“An occupational power retains a margin of appreciation concerning which relief schemes to permit,” US State Department legal adviser Joshua Simmons said.

“Even if an organisation offering relief is an impartial humanitarian organisation, and even if it is a major actor, occupation law does not compel an occupational power to allow and facilitate that specific actor’s relief operations.”

Simmons also stressed the “serious concerns” Israel has about UNRWA’s impartiality.