An Israeli Military Order is a general order issued by an Israeli military commander over territory under Israeli military occupation. It has the force of law. Enforcement of such orders is carried out by Israeli military police and military courts instead of civil courts.

Military Orders are still a basic instrument of Israeli rule of the Palestinian population in Area B and Area C of the West Bank. In contrast, Israeli civilians living in settlements in the area are usually subjected to civil courts.

Palestinians living in Area A of the West Bank, under full control of the Palestinian Authority, are now mostly subject to its laws and civil jurisdiction. Between the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords in 1994, military orders were issued "in a constant stream," covering both criminal and civil matters as well as security and military matters.

Israel inherited the British-imposed 1945 Defence (Emergency) Regulations, applying to whole British Mandatory Palestine. The regulations included, inter alia, the establishment of military tribunals to try civilians without granting the right of appeal, allowing sweeping searches and seizures, prohibiting publication of books and newspapers, demolishing houses, detaining individuals administratively for an indefinite period, sealing off particular territories, and imposing curfew.

In 1948, the newly established state of Israel incorporated the Defence (Emergency) Regulations into its national laws, with the exception of modification necessitated by the creation of the State or its authorities.

Although, in 1951, the Knesset determined that the Defence Regulations were contrary to the basic principles of democracy and instructed the Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee to draft a bill for their repeal, the regulations were not abolished. Any later prospects for partial repeal disappeared with the outbreak of the 1967 Six-Day War. The military governor in the Occupied Territories issued a military order "freezing" the legal situation then existing there. Since then the regulations and its system of military orders are extensively used in the Occupied Territories.

The Israeli Military Orders are enacted in accordance to Article 43 of the Hague Regulations, ratified at the Hague Conventions. The Hague regulations authorize the military occupier of territories to implement new laws, intending to ensure ‘public order’ (translated from French). In reference to “Military Authority Over the Territory of the Hostile State,” Article 43 of the Hague Regulations states, “The authority of the legitimate power having in fact passed into the hands of the occupant, the latter shall take all the measures in his power to restore, and ensure, as far as possible, public order and safety, while respecting, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country” The interpretation and application of this Article was initially analyzed by the Israeli Supreme Court.

One of the first applications of Article 43, which was deemed valid by the Israeli Supreme Court was the case of the Jerusalem District Electricity Company. The Court concluded that it was the military’s responsibility to address the economic welfare of the local population (in Jerusalem), and therefore should help meet the local demand for electricity for the Palestinians and Jewish settlers, specifically in the settlement of Kiryat Arba alike. However, the Supreme Court also validated the military’s prohibition of the “Al-Talia,” an Arab-centric weekly newspaper.