Stop With the Nonsense That Palestinians Are a Minority in Israel

[Shaktimaan]

40. Does it?

The GC states:

Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.
The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.

In Gaza, there is simply no Israeli military presence whatsoever. The b'tselem article you posted actually makes note of this.

Furthermore, a certain area may be deemed occupied even if the army does not have a fixed presence throughout the whole area. Leading experts in humanitarian law maintain that effective control may also exist when the army controls key points in a particular area, reflecting its power over the entire area and preventing an alternative central government from formulating and carrying out its powers. The broad scope of Israeli control in the Gaza Strip, which exists despite the lack of a physical presence of IDF soldiers in the territory, creates a reasonable basis for the assumption that this control amounts to "effective control," such that the laws of occupation continue to apply.

Even if Israel 's control in the Gaza Strip does not amount to "effective control" and the territory is not considered occupied, Israel still bears certain responsibilities under international humanitarian law.

Israel does not have a fixed presence over ANY of the area, much less these "key points" which prevent "an alternative central government from formulating and carrying out its powers. All things the article suggests as a bare minimum to possibly consider an area to be occupied. Gaza has its own established government, which is the sole entity exhibiting effective control over the entirety of Gaza. You can't really be suggesting that the IDF has more direct control in Gaza than Hamas, are you?

Even the article itself takes pains to suggest Israel might not really be occupying Gaza. Just that you could make an argument that it might be. Israel does not even control all of Gaza's border crossings. Would you consider Egypt to be an occupying power as well?