The license that Israel has given itself to strike at will in the Gaza Strip and attack the civilian population and infrastructure in the ferocious manner that it has done during the last two weeks and frequently before indicates that it is not bound by the normal restrictions of an occupying power.
Israel allows itself to strike at will by air and, if necessary, by ground invasion, because it ceded effective control of the Gaza territory in 2005 and declared Gaza a “sui generis” entity.