diff --git a/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalUtils.java b/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalUtils.java
index d8318460b..b8e29c909 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalUtils.java
@@ -299,6 +299,9 @@ protected static Properties generateProxyParametersIfRequired(Map<String, String
         proxyProperties.put(SFSessionProperty.PROXY_USER.getPropertyKey(), username);
         proxyProperties.put(SFSessionProperty.PROXY_PASSWORD.getPropertyKey(), password);
       }
+      // There is a change in JDBC version 3.13.31 which causes NPE if this is not added.
+      // https://github.com/snowflakedb/snowflake-jdbc/blob/master/src/main/java/net/snowflake/client/jdbc/SnowflakeUtil.java#L614
+      proxyProperties.put(SFSessionProperty.GZIP_DISABLED.getPropertyKey(), "false");
     }
     return proxyProperties;
   }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalStageIT.java b/src/test/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalStageIT.java
index e03fee897..037c63033 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalStageIT.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/snowflake/kafka/connector/internal/InternalStageIT.java
@@ -140,6 +140,8 @@ public void testInternalStageWithProxy() throws SnowflakeSQLException {
     proxyProperties.put(SFSessionProperty.PROXY_PORT.getPropertyKey(), "3128");
     proxyProperties.put(SFSessionProperty.PROXY_USER.getPropertyKey(), "admin");
     proxyProperties.put(SFSessionProperty.PROXY_PASSWORD.getPropertyKey(), "test");
+    // required otherwise JDBC version 3.13.31 throws NPE
+    proxyProperties.put(SFSessionProperty.GZIP_DISABLED.getPropertyKey(), "false");
 
     // Create new snowflake connection service
     Map<String, String> config = TestUtils.getConf();