According to IHRL, Israel must respect and protect the human rights included in the UN treaties it has ratified, such as the ICCPR.16 While the aforementioned legal framework has been reaffirmed as applicable in the oPt by the UNGA, the UN Human Rights Council, the International Court of Justice (ICJ),17 among others, Israel has always denied their applicability to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by trying to reinterpret and transform these applicable laws. The ICJ specifically affirmed that “the Court considers that the protection offered by human rights conventions does not cease in case of armed conflict, save through the effect of provisions for derogation of the kind to be found in Article 4 of the ICCPR.”18 IHRL imposes several obligations on Israel, such as the respect for the right to life in law enforcement operations, following international policing standards which include principles such as only using force as a last resort, and the respect for the right of freedom of assembly, opinion, and expression. In its suppression of resistance, Israel has not only made use of excessive force to stop armed struggle but it goes as far as to criminalize and suppress demonstrations or even the development and practice of Palestinian culture. Israeli policies of imposing its own language and culture upon the occupied population are not only a violation of the ICESCR, but they directly affect and deny the right to self-determination of Palestinians. Law Enforcement and Hostilities Paradigms There are two legal paradigms derived from international law that regulate the use of force in armed conflict; the hostilities paradigm, and the law enforcement paradigm. Determining the appropriate paradigm is of extreme importance as it has a direct impact on the loss of life and injury to persons.19 Although both must follow IHL and IHRL, the relevance of each of these bodies of law is different under each paradigm.20 In IHL, the rules and principles regulating the use of force are found in the aforementioned Hague Regulations, the Additional Protocols, and Customary IHL.21 The legal regime regarding the use of force in IHRL is derived from the right to life, 16 Other treaties ratified by Israel include the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT); the Convention on the Rights of a Child (CRC); and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) 17 ICJ, The Advisory Opinion on the Wall, op. cit., 2004 18 Ibid. 19 Expert meeting, The use of force in armed conflicts – Interplay between the conducts of hostilities and law enforcement paradigms, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), November 2013, page iv. Available at: https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/publications/icrc-002-4171.pdf 20 Ibid., page 4 21 Ibid. 14