Is Israel Still an Occupying Power in Gaza?

Abstract

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip came under Israeli occupation in 1967. Both territories had been under constant Israeli control since then, until Israel decided to withdraw its land forces and settlements from the Strip in 2005. Whereas the occupied status of the West Bank still remains uncontested, the status of Gaza after the disengagement is less clear. This article addresses the question whether the Gaza Strip can still be considered to be occupied after the 2005 disengagement. In order to formulate an answer to this question, the article will first outline the different elements needed to trigger occupation. It will then show that, even though the majority argues that the Gaza Strip is still occupied, the effective control test at the core of the law of occupation is no longer met and hence Gaza is no longer occupied. Given that Israel nevertheless continues to exercise some degree of control over Gaza and its population, the absence of occupation does not mean the absence of accountability. This responsibility is however not founded on the law of occupation but on general international humanitarian law, potentially complemented by international human rights law.

A Cartography of the Unknowable: Technology, Territory and Subterranean Agencies in Israel’s Management of the Gaza Tunnels

“…Some academics and human rights organisations contend that the Gaza is still occupied since Israel maintains "a broad scope of ... control in the Gaza Strip" (B'tselem 2017; Maurer 2012). An opposing position argues that the IDF lacks the "potential" to maintain a stable military presence inside Gaza due to Hamas' military control of the territory's interior, nor does Israel control Gaza's civil governance or legal regime (with the caveat of the Palestinian government's responsibility under the Oslo Agreement to report updates to its population registry to Israel) (Cuyckens 2016;Milanovic 2009). Ultimately, whether Gaza is still an Israeli occupied territory is a question of scholarship in international law that is outside the purview of this article.…”

El Régimen Jurídico De La Ocupación a La Luz De Algunos Casos Recientes, Especialmente El De La Franja De Gaza

“…Señala a este respecto, que: "…The fact that Israel is not de sole authority exercising some form of authority over the Gaza Strip is, in my opinion problematic in this regard. Indeed, since June 2007, Hamas carries out most of the governmental administration functions as wild as being responsible for public services such as education, policing sanitation and hospitals" 133 . Es más, señala que no ve cómo Israel va a poder ejercer un cierto control jerárquico sobre Hamás si no es recurriendo a combates importantes para poder reocupar la zona ocupada ahora por las fuerzas de Hamás, y si este es el caso no se puede considerar que el territorio pueda ser ocupado por un tiempo suficientemente largo.…”

“…Desde esta perspectiva, no es extraño que la autora aluda a las guerras de envergadura que Israel ya ha mantenido con Hamás desde que tomó las riendas de Gaza en 2007. Para apoyar estos argumentos, la autora recurre a la Corte Suprema de Israel que, en la cuestión que nos ocupa, ha dejado claro en el caso Al-Bassiouni 135 que Israel no ejerce desde septiembre de 2005 un "control efectivo sobre lo que sucede en Gaza" 136 .…”

Post-occupation Gaza: Israel’s war on Palestinian futures

“…Israel's position is further considered highly controversial among international law experts and the international community more generally (Luft 2017). While some experts ascertain that the definition of an occupation is no longer applicable to Gaza, as the Israeli military is no longer present in the Strip (Samson 2010;Cuyckens 2016), the predominant legal opinion, also sustained by the United Nations, is that the Disengagement has yet to bring about the end to the Israeli occupation (Hajjar 2014). 2 Setting legal discussions aside, there are political arguments, which are no less substantial, for questioning the Israeli assertion that it should not be considered an occupying power in Gaza.…”