No, Israel does not have a right to defend itself in Gaza. But the Palestinians do.
Palestinian fighters from the armed wing of Hamas take part in a military parade in the central Gaza Strip on 19 July 2023
Craig Mokhiber writes in Mondoweiss on 10 September 2024:
One of the many disturbing revelations that have emerged since the current phase of genocide in Palestine began almost a year ago, is the degree to which U.S. and other Western politicians are prepared to dutifully stick to a script provided by Israel and its Western lobbies, whether the script is true or not. A case in point is the oft-repeated “self-defense” canard.
After every successive war crime and crime against humanity perpetrated by Israel in its current genocidal rampage, the single most common refrain of Western government officials (and of Western corporate media) is that “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
No, it does not.
In fact, as a matter of international law, this is a double lie. First, Israel has no such right in Gaza (or the West Bank and East Jerusalem). And, secondly, the acts that the “self-defense” claims seek to justify would be unlawful even where self-defense applies.
The UN Charter, a treaty binding on all member states, codifies key rights and responsibilities of states. Among these are the duty to respect the self-determination of peoples (including the Palestinians), the duty to respect human rights, and the duty to refrain from the use of force against other states (where not authorized by the Security Council). Israel, for the 76 years of its existence, has been repeatedly in breach of these principles.
A temporary exception to the prohibition on the use of force is codified in Article 51 of the UN Charter for self-defense from external attacks. But importantly, no such right exists where the threat emanates from inside the territory controlled by the state. This principle was affirmed by the World Court in its 2004 opinion on Israel’s apartheid wall. And the Court found then, and again in its 2024 opinion on the occupation, that Israel is the occupying power across the occupied Palestinian territory. Thus, Israel, as the occupying power, cannot claim self-defense as a justification for launching military attacks in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, or the Golan Heights.
Of course, Israel, from within its own territory, can lawfully repel any attacks to protect its civilians, but it cannot claim self-defense to wage war against the territories it occupies.