"Israel sets its sights on Gaza's offshore gas", 18 April 2024

During Israel’s deadly war in Gaza, now in its sixth month, Tel Aviv has reportedly granted 12 licences for gas exploration off the Gaza coast to six local and foreign companies, among them the Italian energy company Eni, Britain’s BP, Dana Petroleum - a subsidiary of Korea National Oil Corporation - and Israeli Ratio Petroleum...

the country’s Ministry of Energy announced that it had awarded new natural gas concessions in zones that, according to international law, are deemed to fall within Palestinian maritime border...

The concession areas are Zone G, adjacent to the shores of Gaza, 62 percent of which lies within Palestine’s sea borders, and Zone H and E, of which 73 percent and five percent respectively are located within maritime boundaries claimed by Palestine...

Israel is not a party to UNCLOS and does not recognise the State of Palestine, which gives it, as an occupying power, a pretext for not recognising Palestine’s maritime borders and overriding international norms...

Israeli authorities exercise full and effective control over Palestine's maritime areas, denying Gaza access to resources in its own waters. This is despite the fact that Palestinians have the right to access an area of 20 nautical miles from the enclave’s coast under the Oslo Accords...

On 5 February, Adalah sent a letter to the Israeli Minister of Energy and the Attorney General demanding the cancellation of these exploration tenders, which violate international law, and an immediate halt to any activity involving the exploitation of gas reserves in areas that belong to Palestine...

Following Adalah’s statement, Al-Haq, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) sent notices to Eni, Dana Petroleum, and Ratio Petroleum calling on them to refrain from carrying out any activities in the area of Zone G, over half of which lies within Palestine’s claimed Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)...

To date, the organisations have not received responses from either the Israeli government or the firms concerned by the tender. Bishara, who’s handling the legal case, vowed that they will be raising the matter internationally to reiterate their demands: licenses should be revoked, any planned exploration stopped, and any more licenses should be barred for areas falling within Palestinian maritime territory...