What does international law say about occupation?

Military occupation happens when one country takes effective control of territory that does not belong to it during an armed conflict. Occupation itself does not make that territory part of the occupying country.

International law allows an occupying power to administer territory temporarily, but it also places strict duties on it. The occupying power must protect the civilian population and cannot simply treat the land as its own.

It cannot permanently take the territory through force, forcibly transfer the local population, or move its own civilian population into occupied territory.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) treats them as the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

In 2024, the ICJ went further. It concluded that Israel's continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful, because its policies — including settlement expansion and annexation of territory — violate international law and obstruct Palestinians' right to self-determination.

The Court said Israel must end its unlawful presence "as rapidly as possible," stop all new settlement activity and evacuate settlers from the occupied territory.

So there is an important distinction: Occupation does not automatically mean ownership. In this case, the world's highest court has concluded that Israel's continued presence has itself become unlawful.