International law dictates that military occupation is an inherently temporary situation, and its prolonged, indefinite duration raises significant legal concerns, potentially leading to its classification as unlawful. While no specific maximum time limit is universally defined, the core principles of international law, especially international humanitarian law (IHL) and the right to self-determination, treat a long-overdue occupation as a violation of fundamental norms.
A key principle is that the occupying power does not acquire sovereignty over the territory, but merely exercises temporary administrative control. The purpose is to act as a de facto administrator until control can be returned to the sovereign power, ideally as soon as possible, but that has never been the intention of the Israeli belligerent. However, the role the Israeli belligerent is resorting to is that of taking the sovereignty that the Palestinian Authority has over the West Bank.
Therefore, the acquisition of territory by force is strictly prohibited under the UN Charter and customary international law. A prolonged occupation that seeks to make permanent changes to the territory or effectively annex it (de jure or de facto) is a serious breach of international law.
- Please take note that dates refer to the day when a video or photo was published on the account of a social media user, where it was found.
- Credit: photographers, videographers, reporters, and journalists in the West Bank, news agencies, and other sources.
- Details
- Parent Category: OPPRESSION
- Category: Apartheid
20250923 - Hebron, West Bank - Israeli occupation forces resort to religious and antisemitic apartheid.
- Details
- Parent Category: OPPRESSION
- Category: Apartheid
20250828 - Palestinian landowner abducted after being attacked by colonizing terrorists
- Details
- Parent Category: DEMOGRAPHIC ALTERATION
- Category: Forced displacement
20250811 - Forced displacement by colonists reported in Ein Ayoub near Deir Ammar, northwest of Ramallah
- Details
- Parent Category: Expulsion
- Category: internal expulsion
20250811 - Ein Ayoub near Deir Ammar, West Bank - Israeli occupation forces expelled the Bedouin community
- Details
- Parent Category: DEMOGRAPHIC ALTERATION
- Category: Forced eviction
20250806 - Sur Baher, occupied Jerusalem - Israelis ordered Jerusalemite Amjad Amireh and his son Jamal to forced evict their house
- Details
- Parent Category: OPPRESSION
- Category: Apartheid
20250808 - news - Palestinians living in Israel and in the occupied West Bank are often left without basic protection from missile attacks
- Details
- Parent Category: ARMED ANNEXING BELLIGERENT
- Category: Targeting culture & heritage
20250805 - Nablus - Israeli occupiers annexes Sabastia, which is a UNESCO heritage (2 photos with comment)
.jpeg)
- Details
- Parent Category: OPPRESSION
- Category: Illegal colonial policing
20250710 - news - Israel’s Ben-Gvir forms new police unit composed of illegal settlers in occupied West Bank
- Details
- Parent Category: DEMOGRAPHIC ALTERATION
- Category: IIlegal transfer of foreigners
20240704 - unknown place, West Bank - Foreign colonist from Los Angeles