In 1956, the Gaza Strip was captured by Israel from Egypt for a period of four months during the Suez Crisis. Israel returned it back to Egypt in March 1957, due to heavy international pressure. Israel captured it again on 6 June 1967 during the Six-Day War. The United Nations, international human rights organizations, International Court of Justice, European Union, International Criminal Court, most of the international community and most legal academics and experts regard the Gaza Strip to still be under military occupation by Israel, as Israel still maintains direct control over Gaza's air and maritime space, six of Gaza's seven land crossings, a no-go buffer zone within the territory, and the Palestinian population registry. Israel, the United States, and other legal, military, and foreign policy experts otherwise contend that Israel "ceded the effective control needed under the legal definition of occupation" upon its disengagement in 2005. Israel continues to maintain a blockade of the Gaza Strip, limiting the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip.
Background
The Gaza Strip—a 28-mile-long and 6-mile-wide strip along the Mediterranean coast with small towns and refugee camps in the former territory of Mandatory Palestine, delineated by the Green Line of the 1949 Armistice Agreements—was constituted in the aftermath of the Nakba and the 1948 Palestine war, when it came under Egyptian administration (1949–67) through the client government of the All-Palestine Protectorate (1948–59) established by the Arab League and later under the United Arab Republic (1959–67).
History
1956–1957 Israeli four-month occupation
In 1956, Egypt blockaded the Gulf of Aqaba, assumed national control of the Suez Canal, and blocked it to Israeli shipping—threatening the recently established State of Israel and breaching the terms of the 1888 Convention of Constantinople, which the Khedivate of Egypt was not invited to attend. Israel, France and the United Kingdom invaded the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula, initiating the 1956 Suez War. Under international pressure, the Anglo-French Task Force withdrew before the end of 1956. The Israeli army withdrew in March 1957, ending Israel's four-month-long occupation of the Sinai and Gaza Strip.
During this period, American-Israeli photographer Moshe Marlin Levin documented life there in color photographs that highlight the lively commerce, cleanliness and positive reception of the Israeli presence.Do these photos taken in 1956 show a peaceful Gaza under Israeli occupation
1967–1994 Israeli Military-Civil Administration
In 1967, after Egypt blockaded the Straits of Tiran and cut off Israeli shipping, Israel attacked Egypt, initiating the Six-Day War. It quickly defeated the surrounding Arab states and occupied the Gaza Strip, along with the West Bank and other territory, ending Egypt's occupation. The Israeli Military Governorate was a military governance system established following the Six-Day War in June 1967, in order to govern the civilian population of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the western part of Golan Heights. The governance was based on the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides guidelines for military rule in occupied areas. During this period, the UN and many sources referred to the military governed areas as Occupied Arab Territories.
In 1982, in the wake of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, Israel gave up the Sinai Peninsula and established the Israeli Civil Administration to oversee the administration of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza
According to Ilias Bantekas and Safaa S. Jaber, "the human rights (HR) obligations inherent in the occupation, made it financially, politically, and morally costly for Israel" as an occupying power. In 2003, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon proposed Israel's disengagement from Gaza, and disengagement plans were adopted by the government and Knesset in 2004 and 2005.
In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip by withdrawing its forces and dismantling and evacuating its 21 settlements there, though it redeployed and maintained troops on the borders outside of Gaza and took exclusive control of the airspace over Gaza and its territorial waters. Israel maintained restrictions and active control on the movement of people and goods in the Gaza Strip, with the stated aims of preventing the smuggling of weapons into Gaza and exerting economic pressure on Hamas. The decision to disengage from Gaza was largely opposed by the Israeli public. In May 2004, a referendum showed that 65% of voters were against the disengagement plan.
In the view of the majority of the relevant scholarship, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and many other international non-governmental humanitarian and legal organizations, Israel has continued to be regarded as an occupying power in the Gaza Strip, which has continued to be regarded as among the occupied Palestinian territories.
The official Israeli view and certain pro-Israel scholars consider the Gaza Strip to be unoccupied.
2005–2007
Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005. Control of the Gaza–Egypt border was handed over to Egypt and the Fatah-dominated PA was given control of the Rafah Border Crossing. The 2005 Philadelphi Accord between Israel and Egypt turned over control of the border to Egypt.A New Reality on the Egypt-Gaza Border (Part I): Contents of the New Israel-Egypt Agreement . Brooke Neuman, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 19 September 2005 From February 2005, a technocrat Fatah-led PA government controlled the Palestinian National Security Forces.Current Palestinian Government Structure (Factsheet) . MIFTAH, 3 December 2005 From November 2005 until June 2007, the Rafah Crossing was jointly controlled by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority, with the European Union monitoring the activities from 24 November 2005 on the Gazan side.FAQs . EU BAM Rafah. Accessed September 2015 Tensions between Fatah and Hamas intensified after Hamas won the elections of 2006.Alone and Broke, Hamas Struggles to Rule . New York Times, 7 April 2006 Hamas formed its Executive Force with Jamal abu Samhadana, a prominent militant, at its head. Abbas and Fatah commanders refused to take orders from the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority government."Hamas coup in Gaza" . International Institute for Strategic Studies, Volume 13, Issue 5; June 2007The Impact of Semi-Presidentialism on Governance in the Palestinian Authority (pdf) , pp. 6, 9, 10-11, 16-17. Francesco Cavatorta and Robert Elgie. Parliam Affairs (2009). (Also in HTML version)
p. 6: "the PA has a president-parliamentary form of semi-presidentialism"; p. 9: "The Basic Law of the Palestinian Authority is the equivalent of an interim constitution"; p. 11: ", the semi-presidential structures of the 2003 amended Basic Law highlighted and accelerated divisions between Hamas and Fatah ... Hamas offered Fatah a grand coalition, but Fatah refused"; p. 17: "The semi-presidential structure of the 2003 amended Basic Law was the source of this destabilising period of competition within the executive ... The creation of two competing centres of power with equal popular legitimacy raised the political stakes within the system as both actors tried to undermine the position of other."TIMELINE: Key events since 2006 . Reuters, 20 June 2007 The Fatah-backed President Abbas was supported by the international community and more or less tolerated by Israel. The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Authority and the parliament were boycotted, and international financial aid was rendered via Abbas.
In December 2006, Abbas called for new parliamentary and presidential elections.Abbas calls for early Palestinian poll. Reuters, 16 December 2006 Hamas characterized it as an attempted Fatah coup by Abbas and violence broke out.Hamas accuses Abbas of launching coup. David Hardaker, 17 December 2006Abbas decides to call early elections . Jerusalem Post, 16 December 2006Palestinian tensions run high after poll call . Reuters, 17 December 2006Fatah and Hamas agree ceasefire. Eric Silver, Independent, 18 December 2006. On Google's cacheAbbas outlaws Hamas's paramilitary Executive Force . Richard Boudreaux, The Boston Globe/Los Angeles Times, 7 January 2007 Abbas's means of enforcing order appeared to be coercive action by police and security units under his command, which were relatively weak in the Gaza Strip, Hamas's stronghold. In February 2007, the Saudi-brokered Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement produced an agreement on a Palestinian national unity governmentThe Palestinian National Unity Government . Shlomo Brom, Canada Free Press, 24 February 2007 which was short-lived."Palestinian interior minister submits resignation" , Guardian, 23 April 2007 In June 2007, Hamas took control and removed Fatah officials.Gaza-Westbank – ICRC Bulletin No. 22 / 2007 , AlertNet. Retrieved June 16, 2007. Human Rights Watch accused both sides with violations of international humanitarian law including the targeting and killing of civilians, public executions of political opponents and captives, throwing prisoners off high-rise apartment buildings, fighting in hospitals, and shooting from a jeep marked with "TV" insignias.Gaza: Armed Palestinian Groups Commit Grave Crimes , Human Rights Watch, June 13, 2007. The ICRC denounced attacks in and around two hospitals in the northern part of the Gaza strip.Hospitals offer no safety in Gaza strip , ABC News, June 13, 2007. The Israeli government closed all check-points on the borders of Gaza in response to the violence. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced the dissolution of the unity government. Sami Abu Zuhri asserted that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh remained the head of the government. Neither Hamas nor Fatah had enough votes to form a new government under the constitution.What Can Abu Mazin Do? , pp. 8-9, section States of Emergency under the Palestinian Basic Law. Nathan J. Brown, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 15 June 2007. Here Available .
"First, the PLC can overturn any action taken (presumably by a simple majority, though...Hamas may have difficulties mustering votes with so many deputies in jail). Second, any extension of the state of emergency beyond thirty days requires PLC approval—and this time it is Abu Mazin who would have trouble mustering the votes, since he would need 2/3 of all PLC members."
2007–2023
Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip in Palestine since its takeover of the territory from the rival Fatah-ruled Palestinian Authority (PA) on 14 June 2007. The Hamas administration was first led by Ismail Haniyeh from June 2007 until February 2017; then by Yahya Sinwar until his killing in October 2024; and since then by Mohammed Sinwar.
2023–present Gaza war
On October 7, 2023, Hamas and its allies invaded Israel, killing 1,195 people and taking around 250 hostages, mostly civilians. In response, Israel launched an invasion of the Gaza Strip.
In early January 2024, Israel reoccupied most of the northern Gaza Strip after Israel claimed that it had dismantled 12 Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades battalions on 7 January. This led to the beginning of the insurgency in the North 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 blockade of the Gaza Strip since 2007.
At the beginning of the Gaza war, Israel made it clear that controlling the Gaza Strip was one of the main goals. In late January 2024, Benjamin Netanyahu said that he "will not compromise on full Israeli control" over Gaza. In March 2024, Israel created a new buffer zone in Gaza with restricted access to Gazans.