Palestinian American attorney Gregory Khalil said "Israel still controls every person, every good, literally every drop of water to enter or leave the Gaza Strip. Its troops may not be there... but it still restricts the ability for the Palestinian authority to exercise control."[26]. The issue of the legal status of Gaza strip appears to be particularly complex according to international law and legally intriguing, even after the Operation "Cast Lead" and the Israeli invasion of Gaza in January 2009.[27]
In his statement on the 20082009 IsraelGaza conflict Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur wrote that international humanitarian law applied to Israel "in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war."[28] In a 2009 interview on Democracy Now Christopher Gunness, spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) called Israel an occupying power.