‌Context & Objective: The occupation of territories is a complex issue in international law, typically arising from armed conflict. Foundational frameworks, including the Hague Regulations, the UN Charter, and the Fourth Geneva Convention, established rules for occupying powers, emphasizing the temporary nature of occupation, the prohibition of territorial acquisition by force, and the right to self-determination. The situation in Palestine, exacerbated by conflicts since 1948, presents a unique challenge. Israel's continuous control over the Palestinian territories since 1967 has raised significant legal questions. The 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) shifts the analytical focus from specific actions to a structural evaluation of the prolonged occupation. This article aims to clarify the precise rules governing prolonged occupation across four main dimensions: temporal scope, competencies of the occupying power, territorial sovereignty, and the rights of the occupied population. The primary research question investigates the legal consequences in contemporary international law of the continuous violation of the Palestinian people's right to self-determination through prolonged occupation, settlement expansion, annexation, demographic alterations, and discriminatory practices, particularly regarding the formation of international responsibility for third-party states.
 ‌Method & Approach: This research exclusively utilizes a doctrinal legal methodology to analyze the concept of prolonged occupation. The approach involves a systematic examination of primary international legal instruments, including the Hague Regulations, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the United Nations Charter, alongside customary international law. The analysis is heavily grounded in international jurisprudence, specifically focusing on the interpretative framework provided by the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. The study evaluates the structural situation in the occupied Palestinian territories by integrating classical principles of the law of occupation with the contemporary analytical approaches articulated by the ICJ, relying on a strict normative textual analysis to define the boundaries of prolonged occupation.
 ‌Findings: The analysis reveals that while international law presumes occupation to be a temporary state responding to military necessity, prolonged occupation does not alter the fundamental legal status of the territory nor expand the competencies of the occupying power. The occupying power assumes temporary administrative duties, maintaining legislative, judicial, and administrative competencies only to preserve public order and protect the local population, without acquiring sovereign rights. Findings indicate that Israel's policies, including applying domestic laws to settlements, exploiting natural resources, establishing dual legal systems, and manipulating demographics, fundamentally contradict the normative goals of the law of occupation. The 2024 ICJ Advisory Opinion establishes that the prolonged nature of the occupation, coupled with policies of annexation and permanent control, transforms the temporary administrative status into an illegal continuous situation. The expiration of the one-year period in Article 6 of the Fourth Geneva Convention does not release the occupying power from its obligations as long as effective control persists. Territorial sovereignty remains inherently vested in the occupied population and cannot be transferred, regardless of duration.
 ‌Conclusion: The prolonged occupation of Palestine, characterized by settlement expansion, structural discrimination, and annexation policies, constitutes a continuous violation of peremptory norms of international law, notably the prohibition of acquiring territory by force and the right to self-determination. This illegal situation invalidates any claims of sovereign acquisition. Consequently, the occupying power is legally obligated to terminate the occupation as rapidly as possible and restore administrative authority to the local population. The structural illegality of this prolonged occupation generates strict obligations for the international community. Third-party states and international organizations bear a definitive legal responsibility to not recognize the illegal situation, to withhold any assistance that maintains the occupation, and to cooperate actively to bring an end to the continuous violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.