Is Israel’s siege of Gaza illegal?

In retaliation to over a thousand Israeli dead, the country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has vowed to besiege Gaza. In a statement earlier this week, he said: ‘We are putting a complete siege on Gaza… No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.’ Israel has been as good as its word, even stopping medicine from entering the Palestinian enclave.  

Shutting off supplies to an area of 2.3 million people, nearly all of them civilians, raises grave questions about the legality of Israel’s action under international law. While international law generally accepts the blockade of enemy armies, depriving civilians of essential supplies violates international humanitarian law. Such action would be illegal even if Israel were not specifically targeting Palestinian civilians. 

One of the foremost tenets of international customary law is the notion that belligerents have limits on what they can do in war, an idea that dates back to medieval just war theory.