Talk of Israeli reoccupation of Gaza raises questions of legal obligations and responsibilities

Special An Israeli tank crossing the border into the Gaza strip amid ongoing battles between Israeli forces and Hamas. Gaza’s possible return to Israeli control raises questions about what responsibilities occupying power would have. (AFP)
An Israeli tank crossing the border into the Gaza strip amid ongoing battles between Israeli forces and Hamas. Gaza’s possible return to Israeli control raises questions about what responsibilities occupying power would have. (AFP)
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Updated 19 November 2023
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Talk of Israeli reoccupation of Gaza raises questions of legal obligations and responsibilities

Talk of Israeli reoccupation of Gaza raises questions of legal obligations and responsibilities
  • More than a month since it launched military offensive, Israel seen to be lacking coherent postwar policy
  • Under international humanitarian law, an occupying power is obligated to intervene in civilian governance

LONDON: Israel has left open the prospect of its reoccupation of the Gaza Strip after the anticipated defeat of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, claiming it will be responsible for finding a civilian administration to take over the Palestinian territory.

The prospect of a return to direct Israeli administration, however, raises a host of questions about what obligations and responsibilities it would have as an occupying power, given Gaza’s unique characteristics in relation to international law.

More than a month since the fighting began, Israel still lacks a coherent post-conflict policy for Gaza, with the government facing down far-right politicians’ provocations for Palestinian expulsion while flip-flopping on its own intentions.

Having early in the conflict told ABC News that Israel would have “overall security responsibility … for an indefinite period” over the Palestinian enclave, a strong reproach from the US caused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to flip, telling Fox News just days later that occupation was, in fact, not the intention.

Rather, he said the plan was to “demilitarize, deradicalize, and rebuild” the Gaza Strip while holding responsibility for finding a “civilian government” to manage the territory, leaving the door ajar for an interim occupation.

Certainly, this is where experts see the situation heading.




Palestinians with their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli air strikes, on October 13, 2023. (AFP)

Writing in The Conversation earlier this month, Durham University peace and security studies lecturer Rob Geist Pinfold said he expects a replay of Israel’s previous “diverse occupations to date.”

In practice, he said, Israel would likely move to “indefinitely” occupy parts of Gaza and seek “to eschew responsibility for civilian governance elsewhere in the territory.”

While it may seek to avoid responsibility, under international humanitarian law, Israel could nonetheless find itself obligated to intervene in civilian governance.

Eugenie Duss, a research fellow at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, told Arab News the law of belligerent occupation is designed to allow civilians to continue their lives “as normally as possible.”

As such, she said, the existing local system must ensure provision of food, health services, hygiene, spiritual assistance and education.

“However, if the needs of the local population cannot be thus satisfied, the occupying power must itself provide goods and services while respecting local traditions and sensitivities,” she said.

“If it still cannot satisfy the needs of the local population, the occupying power must agree to and facilitate external humanitarian assistance.”

Occupation, though, is nothing new for Gaza.




sraeli soldiers shoot at stone-throwing Palestinian teenagers in Khan Younes in the Gaza Strip during clashes in October 2000. (File Photo/AFP)

Israel may have dismantled and removed its 21 settlements from the Strip in 2005 as part of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s policy of disengagement, but there is something approaching consensus within the international legal community that the government retained effective control over the territory as an occupying force.

Duss said this “majority view” stems largely from Israel having retained control over Gaza’s airspace, territorial waters, land border crossings, supply of civilian infrastructure, and key governmental functions such as management of the Palestinian population registry.

When pushed on this, Israel has long maintained that Gaza was not, and is not, occupied. As justification, it says the territory had not been recognized as a “high contracting party” vested with rights and obligations under international law at the time of its initial occupation in 1967.

“The International Court of Justice rejected Israel’s argument, stating that it was sufficient that Jordan and Israel (the ICJ only had to address the West Bank’s status) were, at the relevant time, parties to the conventions and engaged in an armed conflict that led to the West Bank’s occupation,” said Duss.

“It is therefore irrelevant whether occupied territory belongs to another state.”

Concurring, Emily Crawford, professor of international law at the University of Sydney, told Arab News that recognition of Palestinian statehood was immaterial. Indeed, of the 193 UN states, 138 have acknowledged Palestine as a sovereign state.

For Crawford, Palestinian accession to the Geneva and Hague conventions between 2014 and 2018 provided it with protections under international humanitarian law and rendered Israel obligated to occupy Palestinian territory per the conventions’ edicts.

Those rules are “pretty expansive and cover some fundamental principles,” said Duss.

INNUMBERS

* 12,000+ Palestinians killed in Gaza in Israeli military offensive, according to Palestinian health authorities.

* 1,200 Israelis and foreigners killed in Hamas attack on Oct. 7, according to Israeli authorities.

* 230+ People held hostage by Hamas and allied groups, according to Israeli authorities.

“Protected persons may neither be forcibly transferred or otherwise deported out of the occupied territory nor forcibly transferred within the occupied territory.

“Also, the occupying power may not transfer parts of its own population, even if they consent, into the occupied territory.”

Furthermore, protected persons in an occupied territory may only be deprived of their liberty as civilian internees for imperative security reasons, in view of a criminal trial or to serve a criminal sentence.

And for those who are detained, the law provides guarantees that they are to be treated humanely and within their own territory.

Local legislation remains applicable and local institutions must be allowed to continue to function, said Duss, with the occupying power only allowed to amend local laws in four scenarios: to protect the security of its forces; to comply with international humanitarian law; to respect its obligations under international human rights law; and where explicitly authorized by the UN Security Council.

Even private property has protections under the law. This includes property dedicated to religion, charity, education, the arts, and sciences, none of which may be confiscated, although Duss said it may be requisitioned for the needs of the occupying army.




A Palestinian woman shouts as her children search 15 April 2001 through the remains of their home destroyed by the Israeli army in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (AFP/File Photo)

“It may be argued that the concept of property also covers both tangible and intangible interests,” said Duss.

“The destruction of private property is only permitted when rendered absolutely necessary by military operations. Movable enemy public property, including cash, that can be used for military operations may be seized as war booty.”

One question left lingering, though, concerns whether an occupation is in itself legal.

Both Crawford and Duss note that an occupation’s legality is essentially dependent upon whether it has received authorization from the UN Security Council.

If so, then an occupation can be deemed legal. As an example, Crawford noted the interim occupation of Kosovo that ran from 1999 to its declaration of independence in 2008.

Given there is widespread support for the claim that Israel has in fact occupied Palestine for more than 50 years, one is left questioning the effectiveness of this body of law.

“Is the law fit for purpose? Sort of — but only in situations where it is not a prolonged occupation,” said Crawford.

“The entirety of the law of occupation is geared toward occupation being temporary, so in situations where it is less than temporary … the system starts to strain.”

As with a lot of things in international law, she said, policing behavior is dependent upon how much the state in question plans to follow the rules. Nonetheless, she stressed there are mechanisms that third parties can use to force the occupier’s hand.




“The lesson we are taking away from the Gaza crisis is the need to go back to the two-state solution,” said Anwar Gargash, foreign policy adviser to the UAE president. (AFP)

“There is always the option of non-judicial enforcement mechanisms, like sanctions, embargoes, diplomatic pressure, as well as postbellum criminal trials or taking the question to the International Court of Justice,” said Crawford.

Many non-legal factors also contribute to respect of international humanitarian law, including routine, military interest in discipline and efficiency, public opinion, ethical and religious factors, positive reciprocity, and a desire to re-establish a durable peace, said Duss.

While the media “all too often” spotlights violations, the reality is that international humanitarian law is more often than not “respected rather than violated,” she added.

Some may scoff at the latter suggestion, with the court in the past having proved powerless, particularly if one looks at its 1986 Contras entanglement with the US, which, when ruled against, simply denied the court’s jurisdiction.

But what makes things different in the case of Gaza is the “unprecedented public attention being focused on it,” said Crawford.

“For the first time in my memory, we’re seeing widespread protests not just from Palestinian groups but from concerned Israelis and Jewish groups both in and outside Israel regarding what is taking place,” she said.

“There seems a huge groundswell against Netanyahu and the response by the Israeli government, which has been described as disproportionate, and perhaps driven by other motives than self-defense.

“In time, that may prove to be a powerful force in controlling and even ending what is taking place.”


Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms
Updated 10 sec ago
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Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms
  • Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has taken some measures to increase aid access to Gaza but has so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation in the enclave, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, as a deadline set by the US to improve the situation approaches.
The Biden administration told Israel in an Oct. 13 letter it had 30 days to take specific steps to address the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip, which has been pummeled for more than a year by Israeli ground and air operations that Israel says are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants.
Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza.
“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around. We have seen an increase in some measurements. We’ve seen an increase in the number of crossings that are open. But just if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met,” Miller said.
Miller said the results so far were “not good enough” but stressed that the 30-day period had not elapsed.
He declined to say what consequences Israel would face if it failed to implement the recommendations.
“What I can tell you that we will do is we will follow the law,” he said.
Washington, Israel’s main supplier of weapons, has frequently pressed Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza since the war with Hamas began with the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
The Oct. 13 letter, sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said a failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing the measures on aid access may have implications for US policy and law.
Section 620i of the US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.
Israel on Monday said it was canceling its agreement with the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), citing accusations that some UNRWA staff had Hamas links.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said Israel had scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time.
An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.
Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.


Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case
Updated 16 min 26 sec ago
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Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case
  • “The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement

JERUSALEM: A Gaza hostages campaign group called Monday for an investigation into the alleged leak of confidential documents by an ex-aide to Israel’s premier, which may have undermined efforts to secure their release.
A court announced Sunday that Eliezer Feldstein, a former aide to Benjamin Netanyahu, had been detained along with three others for allegedly leaking documents to foreign media.
The case has prompted the opposition to question whether Netanyahu was involved in the leak — an allegation denied by his office.
“The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
“Such actions, especially during wartime, endanger the hostages, jeopardize their chances of return and abandon them to the risk of being killed by Hamas terrorists.”
The forum represents most of the families of the 97 hostages still held in Gaza after they were seized in the unprecedented October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war.
The Israeli military says 34 of them are dead.
“The suspicions suggest that individuals associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the greatest frauds in the country’s history,” the forum said.
“This is a moral low point like no other. It is a severe blow to the remaining trust between the government and its citizens.”
Critics have long accused Netanyahu of stalling in truce negotiations and prolonging the war to appease his far-right coalition partners.
Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet and the army launched an investigation into the breach in September after two newspapers, British weekly The Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s Bild tabloid, published articles based on the classified military documents.
One article claimed a document had been uncovered showing that then Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — later killed by Israel — and the hostages in Gaza would be smuggled into Egypt through the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The other was based on what was said to be an internal Hamas leadership memo on Sinwar’s strategy to hamper talks toward the liberation of hostages.
The Israeli court said the release of the documents ran the risk of causing “severe harm to state security.”
“As a result, the ability of security bodies to achieve the objective of releasing the hostages, as part of the war goals, could have been compromised,” it added.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s count based on official Israeli data, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 43,341 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.
Meanwhile, late on Monday Netanyahu asked the attorney general to begin investigating other alleged leaks from cabinet meetings during the war.
“Since the beginning of the war, we have witnessed an incessant flood of serious leaks and revelations of state secrets,” he said in a letter to the attorney general, which was posted on his Telegram channel.
“Therefore, I am appealing to you to immediately order the investigation of the leaks in general.”


UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO
Updated 05 November 2024
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UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO
  • “This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros says

GENEVA: The chief of the World Health Organization on Monday denounced Israel’s decision to cut ties with the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, saying it would not make the country safer while increasing civilian suffering in Gaza.
“Let me be clear: There is simply no alternative to UNRWA,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video posted on X.
“This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros added.
His comments came after Israel said it had formally notified the UN of its decision to sever ties with UNRWA, after Israeli lawmakers backed the move last week.
The suspension of the agency, which coordinates nearly all aid in war-ravaged Gaza, sparked global condemnation including from key Israeli backer the United States.
The move is expected to come into force in late January, with the UN Security Council warning it would have severe consequences for millions of Palestinians.
Israel has accused a dozen UNRWA employees of taking part in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the deadliest in Israeli history.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA but said Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.
The agency, which employs 13,000 people in Gaza, fired nine employees after an internal probe found that they “may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October.”
UNRWA, which was established in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli conflict following Israel’s creation a year earlier, provides assistance to nearly six million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
“Every day, it provides thousands of medical consultations and vaccinated hundreds of children,” Tedros said, adding that many humanitarian partners rely on UNRWA’s logistical networks to get supplies into Gaza.
He said that the UNRWA staff his organization had worked with were “dedicated health and humanitarian professionals who work tirelessly for their communities under unimaginable circumstances.”
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,374 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers to be reliable.


GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait
Updated 04 November 2024
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GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait
  • Meeting gathers ministers, UN agency representatives, international organizations

KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi addressed a high-level conference on counter-terrorism and border security on Monday.

The conference, which is being held in Kuwait and ends on Tuesday, has been organized by Kuwait in partnership with Tajikistan and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

It gathered ministers, UN agency representatives, and international and regional organizations to help bolster international counter-terrorism efforts.

Al-Budaiwi said: “This important regional conference focuses on border security and combating terrorism, which are vital issues requiring collective action.”

Al-Budaiwi spoke of the GCC’s achievements in security collaboration, including information-sharing and laws targeting terrorism financing.

He added: “The GCC countries have built a common security system through joint agreements, enhancing cooperation in border protection and addressing security threats.”

He stressed the region’s proactive approach in utilizing technology and training personnel to safeguard borders against transnational threats like arms and human trafficking.


Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village

Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village
Updated 04 November 2024
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Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village

Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village
  • Prime minister calls on international community to address Israeli aggression against Lebanon and protect nation’s heritage and cultural sites
  • Three people were killed in a raid on a residence in the town of Arabsalim in Iqlim Al-Tuffah

BEIRUT: Dozens of houses and other buildings in the Lebanese border village of Mays Al-Jabal have been destroyed during Israeli incursions over the past 48 hours, residents said. The fate of several elderly villagers, including a woman, who refused to leave their homes before the attacks remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, on Monday called on the international community to address Israel’s “continued aggression against Lebanon and its crimes of killing and destruction.”

His appeal came during meetings with ambassadors from the permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, the UK, France, Russia and China — and Sandra de Waal, the EU’s envoy to Lebanon.

The death toll in the country had risen to 2,968 by Sunday evening, officials said, including dozens of children, women and the elderly people who died in the rubble of their homes. The number of wounded has risen to 13,319. Health Minister Firas Abiad said eight hospitals in the south of the country, the Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs are out of service.

The people of Mays Al-Jabal appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross for help to search for survivors who might be trapped under the rubble following the Israeli attacks. Some of the missing were said to be in their 80s and 90s and had received medical and food aid in recent months from the Red Cross, in coordination with UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army.

Explosions during the attacks in Mays Al-Jabal caused tremors similar to those in the towns of Kfarkela, Blida, Mhaibib, Khiam, Ayta Al-Shaab and Ramyah over the past two weeks. Israeli forces were reportedly spotted on the move in the vicinity of Mays Al-Jabal’s government hospital on Monday in preparation for a fresh assault.

Activists on social media shared satellite images of the devastation caused by the Israeli attacks on border villages, from which the inhabitants have fled.

Israeli airstrikes hit the villages of Tyre and Bint Jbeil but did not stop there. A Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority center in the town of Bazouriyeh was targeted, killing two paramedics and wounding several people.

Bint Jbeil, Maroun Al-Ras, Yaroun and Aitaroun have also come under sporadic artillery fire, though they were quiet on Monday. However, three people were killed in a raid on a residence in the town of Arabsalim in Iqlim Al-Tuffah region, and an Israeli airstrike on Machghara in Western Bekaa killed four people and left several injured.

The Israeli army said the air force had killed Abu Ali Rida, a Hezbollah leader in the southern Baraachit area said to be responsible for planning and carrying out rocket and anti-tank attacks, and overseeing the activities of Hezbollah operatives in the area.

Hezbollah said it “struck a gathering of soldiers to the east of Maroun Al-Ras, using a suicide drone that reached its intended target.” The group also said Israeli forces “retreated from the Khiam region on Sunday, as well as from Sarda, Al-Amra, Talat Al-Hamames and the vicinity of Al-Wazzani.”

It added that its forces had attacked the Nahariya settlement and the Meron air surveillance base, and launched a suicide-drone assault targeting Israeli forces in the Yiftah settlement.

On Sunday night, Hezbollah said it launched an “air attack with a squadron of suicide drones on a gathering of Israeli forces in the Manara settlement,” and targeted “the settlements of Elite Hashahar, Sha'al, Hatzor, Dalton and Yesud HaMa’ala with rocket barrages.”

Sirens sounded in Acre and Nahariya on Monday. Avichay Adraee, a spokesperson for the Israeli army, said: “Within 30 minutes this morning, the air force successfully intercepted four drones en route to Israel. Some of these drones originated from Lebanon, while others came from the east. Two of the drones were intercepted before entering the country’s airspace.”

According to Israeli news reports, “a drone was intercepted in the Rekhs Ramim area in Upper Galilee without activating the sirens.” And an Israeli attack on a residence in the Baalbek-Hermel area, close to the Douris municipality, reportedly caused significant damage.

During his meeting with the international envoys, Mikati said Israel had “turned against all the suggested solutions and continues its war crimes in various Lebanese regions, to the extent of targeting archaeological sites. This, in itself, is an additional crime against humanity and must be confronted and stopped.”

He highlighted the “escalation of Israeli hostilities against Lebanon and the atrocities committed, including killings and destruction, which should be brought to the attention of the international community, which remains silent on these events.”

Nations that traditionally “carry the banner of humanity and human rights should exert maximum pressure on Israel to stop its aggression,” Mikati added.

He said the Lebanese government has “welcomed all calls advocating for a ceasefire but Israel has turned against all proposed solutions. We renew our demand to put pressure on Israel to cease its aggression.”

The government previously agreed to “enhance the presence of the army and recruit military personnel,” he continued, and during an upcoming parliamentary session “we will discuss certain executive measures to support recruiting 1,500 members for the army.”

Mikati reiterated the need for the international community to put pressure on Israel to avoid targeting civilians, medical teams and ambulance crews, and handed the envoys “a letter in which he stressed that the ongoing Israeli aggression, especially the attacks on places such as Baalbek and Tyre, have led to the displacement of entire villages and threatened priceless heritage and cultural sites.”

He also presented them with a report on the damage to Lebanon’s health sector caused by the Israeli attacks, and called for “an immediate ceasefire to stop the senseless violence and protect our country’s cultural heritage.”

Mikati urged the Security Council “to take swift and decisive action to protect the historical treasures that are not only part of our national identity but also hold significance as global historical landmarks.”

He added: “We must work together to ensure the preservation of these sites for future generations.”