The United Nations' top court on Friday said that Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal in an advisory opinion. The International Court of Justice's opinion stated that "Israel is under obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian territory as rapidly as possible".

The advisory opinion is not legally binding but carries moral authority and can shape international law.Judge Nawaj Salam, the President of the ICJ said, "large-scale confiscation of land and the degradation of access to natural resources divests the local population of their basic means of subsistence thus inducing their departure".

Isareli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the opinion. He said,"The Jewish people are not conquerers in their own land. Neither in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria". The Israeli PM also said, " No false decision in The Hague will distroy this historical truth, just as the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested".