According to Article 42 of The Hague Regulations, ‘territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of a hostile army.’
For an occupation to be legal, it must be temporary, and there must be an overriding military necessity. A landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice in July 2024 determined that Israel’s occupation of Palestine met neither of those thresholds and that it is, therefore, illegal.
Now in its fifth decade, the occupation has created a longstanding situation of sustained conflict and injustice.
