Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip has been under military occupation by Israel since 6 June 1967, when Israeli forces captured the territory, then occupied by Egypt, during the Six-Day War. Although Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, 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. The blockade has been categorized as a form of occupation and illegal collective punishment.
While the disengagement of Israel from Gaza was first proposed in 2003 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and adopted by the government and Knesset in 2004 and 2005, the actual unilateral dismantlement of the settlements occurred in 2005. The decision to disengage from Gaza was not met with support from the Israeli public, with a May 2004 referendum showing that 65% of voters were against the disengagement plan.
In early January 2024, during the Israel–Hamas war, 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 Israel–Hamas 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 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.
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.
By 2005, there were 9,000 Israeli settlers spread across 21 Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, while around 1.3 million Palestinians lived there. The first settlement was built in 1970, soon after Israel occupied the Gaza Strip following the Six-Day War. Each Israeli settler disposed of 400 times the land available to the Palestinian refugees, and 20 times the volume of water allowed to the peasant farmers of the Strip. Following disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, all Israeli settlers were evacuated and all settlements were dismantled.
In late January 2024, it was reported by an unnamed Israeli military officer that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others in the government had requested that military members begin to establish permanent bases in the Gaza Strip amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.