Journalist Ian Sinclair has an interview with Marjorie Cohn, an expert on International Law. It is posted in an article at ScheerPost.
In fact, given the current relationship between Israel and the Palestinians, including those in Gaza, Israeli has no “right” to defend itself against Palestinian attacks according to International Law.
Here is an excerpt of that article:
. . . For an armed attack to give rise to the right of self-defence, it must be directed from outside the territory under the control of the defending state. A state cannot invoke the right of self-defence to defend against an attack which originates inside a territory it occupies. Because Israel has continued to occupy Gaza, it has relinquished its right to claim self-defence in response to the Palestinian attacks.
In its 2004 advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) established the non-applicability of “self-defence” under Article 51 in the situation between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Israel remains an occupying power in Gaza despite its unilateral removal of settlements. After the 2006 election of Hamas, Israel imposed a blockade against Gaza which is specifically listed as an act of aggression under UN general assembly resolution 3314.
An occupying force has a duty to protect the people it occupies; it cannot claim self-defence against the occupied. Actions taken by Palestinians to resist the blockade are not “acts of aggression” so they do not allow Israel to claim it is acting in self-defence.
Aside from the illegality of targeting and killing civilians, what does international law say about Palestinians resisting the occupation, including with armed force?
Whether the use of force in the first instance is lawful is a separate question from how that force is carried out. For targeting and killing civilians and taking hostages, Hamas leaders can be charged with war crimes.
The Palestinians, however, have the right to self-determination and the right to resist Israel’s occupation of their territory, including through armed struggle.
In 1983, the UN general assembly reaffirmed “the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for their independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial domination, apartheid and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.”
Gaza, together with the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is part of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. The Occupied Palestinian Territory is a single territorial unit over which the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination is enshrined in international law, according to the ICJ’s Wall decision.
The legal test for occupation is “effective control,” which exists if the military forces of the adversary could assume physical control of any part of the country at any time. . .
You can read the entire article here.
