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Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip

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Israel launched an invasion of the Gaza Strip in October 2023.[1] At the beginning of the Gaza war, Israel made it clear that controlling the Gaza Strip was one of the main goals.[2] In January 2024, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said that he "will not compromise on full Israeli control" over Gaza.[3]

In January 2024, during the Gaza war, Israel reoccupied most of the northern Gaza Strip after Israel claimed that it had dismantled 12 Al-Qassam Brigades battalions on 7 January.[4][5][6] This led to the beginning of the insurgency in the northern Gaza Strip and also the beginning of the Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, some 19 years after Israel had disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005 due to stiff resistance from the Palestinians. However, Israel has been continuously imposing a land, sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip since the Hamas takeover in 2007, including control of its water, electricity, telecommunications, and other utilities, such that Gaza was still considered as being occupied by Israel under international law.[7][8]

In March 2024, Israel started carving through farmland and demolishing Palestinian homes and schools in the Gaza Strip to create a new buffer zone. Palestinians would be barred from the new buffer zone in Gaza.[9]

Following the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas temporary committee initially discussed the possibility of appointing a single successor, but eventually opted to rule Hamas through the committee until the scheduled leadership elections in March 2025.[10][11][12] In January 2025, a United States–brokered ceasefire went into effect, with Hamas retaining partial control over the Gaza Strip as the IDF partially withdrew.[13][14][15][16]

In early April 2025, it was announced by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz that there would be a major expansion of Israel security zones, where large swaths of land were seized by the IDF. Katz also announced that there would be an ordered evacuation of Gaza's population from the areas, although heavy airstrikes in the area have already caused the deaths of multiple civilians including children.[17]

In August 2025, Israel began preparation for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip.[18][19][20][21] US president Donald Trump said that it was "up to Israel" whether to occupy all of Gaza.[22]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Has Israel invaded Gaza? The military has been vague, even if its objectives are clear". Associated Press. 31 October 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  2. ^ "Netanyahu says IDF will control Gaza after war, rejects notion of international force". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Netanyahu Says No Compromise on Full Israeli Control in Gaza". Voice of America. 20 January 2024.
  4. ^ Jhaveri, Ashka; Soltani, Amin; Moore, Johanna; Tyson, Kathryn; Braverman, Alexandra; Carl, Nicholas (7 January 2024). "Iran Update, January 7, 2024". Institute for the Study of War. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  5. ^ Clarke, Colin P. (5 February 2024). "The Counterinsurgency Trap in Gaza". Foreign Affairs. 103 (2). Council on Foreign Relations. ISSN 2327-7793. OCLC 863038729. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  6. ^ Rasgon, Adam; Boxerman, Aaron (23 February 2024). "As Gaza War Grinds On, Israel Prepares for a Prolonged Conflict". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  7. ^ Sanger, Andrew (2011). "The Contemporary Law of Blockade and the Gaza Freedom Flotilla". In Schmitt, M. N.; Arimatsu, Louise; McCormack, Tim (eds.). Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law - 2010. Vol. 13. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 429. doi:10.1007/978-90-6704-811-8_14. ISBN 978-90-6704-811-8. Israel claims it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip, maintaining that it is neither a State nor a territory occupied or controlled by Israel, but rather it has 'sui generis' status. Pursuant to the Disengagement Plan, Israel dismantled all military institutions and settlements in Gaza and there is no longer a permanent Israeli military or civilian presence in the territory. However the Plan also provided that Israel will guard and monitor the external land perimeter of the Gaza Strip, will continue to maintain exclusive authority in Gaza air space, and will continue to exercise security activity in the sea off the coast of the Gaza Strip as well as maintaining an Israeli military presence on the Egyptian-Gaza border. and reserving the right to reenter Gaza at will.
    Israel continues to control six of Gaza's seven land crossings, its maritime borders and airspace and the movement of goods and persons in and out of the territory. Egypt controls one of Gaza's land crossings. Troops from the Israeli Defence Force regularly enter pans of the territory and/or deploy missile attacks, drones and sonic bombs into Gaza. Israel has declared a no-go buffer zone that stretches deep into Gaza: if Gazans enter this zone they are shot on sight. Gaza is also dependent on Israel for water, electricity, telecommunications and other utilities, currency, issuing IDs, and permits to enter and leave the territory. Israel also has sole control of the Palestinian Population Registry through which the Israeli Army regulates who is classified as a Palestinian and who is a Gazan or West Banker. Since 2000 aside from a limited number of exceptions Israel has refused to add people to the Palestinian Population Registry.
    It is this direct external control over Gaza and indirect control over life within Gaza that has led the United Nations, the UN General Assembly, the UN Fact Finding Mission to Gaza, International human rights organisations, US Government websites, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and a significant number of legal commentators, to reject the argument that Gaza is no longer occupied.
  8. ^
    • "Military occupation of Palestine by Israel". Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts Project. 18 May 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2023.
    • Scobbie, Iain (2012). Elizabeth Wilmshurst (ed.). International Law and the Classification of Conflicts. Oxford University Press. p. 295. ISBN 978-0-19-965775-9. Even after the accession to power of Hamas, Israel's claim that it no longer occupies Gaza has not been accepted by UN bodies, most States, nor the majority of academic commentators because of its exclusive control of its border with Gaza and crossing points including the effective control it exerted over the Rafah crossing until at least May 2011, its control of Gaza's maritime zones and airspace which constitute what Aronson terms the 'security envelope' around Gaza, as well as its ability to intervene forcibly at will in Gaza.
    • Gawerc, Michelle (2012). Prefiguring Peace: Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding Partnerships. Lexington Books. p. 44. ISBN 9780739166109. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2016. While Israel withdrew from the immediate territory, it remained in control of all access to and from Gaza through the border crossings, as well as through the coastline and the airspace. In addition, Gaza was dependent upon Israel for water, electricity sewage communication networks and for its trade (Gisha 2007. Dowty 2008). In other words, while Israel maintained that its occupation of Gaza ended with its unilateral disengagement Palestinians – as well as many human right organizations and international bodies – argued that Gaza was by all intents and purposes still occupied.
  9. ^ Bressange, Camille; Nissenbaum, Dion; Gómez, Juanje; AbdulKarim, Fatima. "How Israel's Proposed Buffer Zone Reshapes the Gaza Strip". WSJ.
  10. ^ "Hamas to be temporarily led by five-member ruling committee". The Arab Weekly. 22 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Hamas will be temporarily led by a committee, according to sources within the movement". L'Orient Today. 22 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Who will lead Hamas after killing of Yahya Sinwar?". BBC News. 19 October 2024. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  13. ^ "A defiant Hamas displays its authority in Gaza, posing a challenge to Netanyahu". NBC News. 28 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  14. ^ Abdel-Baqui, Omar; Said, Summer (21 January 2025). "Hamas Is Effectively Back in Control in Gaza". WSJ. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  15. ^ Rasgon, Adam; Abuheweila, Iyad (23 January 2025). "Hamas Takes Charge in Gaza After 15 Months of War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  16. ^ "Hamas' tight grip on Gaza complicates plan for lasting peace". Reuters. Archived from the original on 22 January 2025. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  17. ^ Yosef, Eugenia; Khadder, Kareem; Nasser, Irene (2 April 2025). "Israel announces expansion of military operation in Gaza to seize 'large areas' of land, ordering residents to leave". CNN. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  18. ^ "Israel Says It's Preparing to Take Control of Gaza City. What Does That Mean?". The New York Times.
  19. ^ "Live updates: Israel says it will take control of Gaza City, escalating war in the devastated enclave". NBC News. 9 August 2025.
  20. ^ Cornwell, Alexander; Cornwell, Alexander. "Israel's security cabinet approves plan to take control of Gaza City". Reuters.
  21. ^ "Israel's plan to take over Gaza City stirs fears for civilians and hostages". AP News. 8 August 2025.
  22. ^ Staff, Al Jazeera. "Trump says it is 'up to Israel' whether to occupy all of Gaza". Al Jazeera.
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