Israel maintains a military occupation over the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), the land it captured in 1967, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip. The UN has long demanded that Israel withdraw from territory acquired by force in 1967 and termed its occupation to be illegal under international law.  

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an historic advisory opinion stating that the Israeli occupation was unlawful and should be immediately ended.  In its ruling the Court said that Israeli settlements should be withdrawn, displaced Palestinians should be permitted to return to their homes and that they should receive full reparations.  

Israel has ignored the ruling and maintained full military control over the territories, including borders and airspace, thereby restricting who and what is allowed in and out. It has fragmented the West Bank with settlements, settler-only bypass roads and some 900 checkpoints, and all but annihilated the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack on Israel of October 7, 2023. 

Under its occupation, Israel denies Palestinians their civil, political, and economic rights, and subjects them to systematic Apartheid polices including in the allocation of water.  Israeli walls, roadblocks, and checkpoints restrict Palestinian movement, cut farmers off from their land, make it impossible for many children to attend school regularly, and at times result in the deaths of people trying to obtain medical care. West Bank Palestinians are now largely restricted from visiting East Jerusalem, which once was their main commercial, medical, and educational center.

Ongoing human rights violations by Israel in the OPT have included home demolitions, forced displacement of Palestinian families, punitive arrests, unfair trials, indefinite detention without charges or trial and ill treatment and torture of detainees,  including children.  According to the Middle East Monitor at least 3,000 children were killed by the military between 2000 and 2017. That number has spiraled upward since October 7, 2023, in both the West Bank and Gaza. At least 17,000 children have been killed by Israel’s bombardments in Gaza, with many more unaccounted for under the rubble.  

Since its occupation began, Israel has destroyed over 28,000 Palestinian homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and damaged or obliterated nearly all the housing and other buildings in the Gaza Strip.