Israel accused of 'domicide' as it flattens homes in Gaza and Lebanon

Campaign is on to include the systematic destruction of homes as a crime against humanity

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, speaks during a press conference at the Asser Institute, in the Hague, Netherlands, in December. EPA

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Israel’s recent destruction of villages in southern Lebanon, similar to its “industrial scale” demolition of civilian infrastructure in Gaza, constitutes "domicide" and should be treated as a crime against humanity, a UN expert has said.

Domicide – the systematic destruction of homes to expel civilian populations and render areas uninhabitable – is not recognised as a distinct crime under international law, Prof Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, told The National in an exclusive interview. Prof Rajagopal, who teaches law and development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, has been actively campaigning for an amendment since October 2022, when he presented a report to the UN General Assembly after the widespread destruction of homes in Ukraine by Russia.

Now, Israel is committing similar crimes in Lebanon and Gaza with impunity, he said.

“I have been advocating for the inclusion of domicide as a crime against humanity because such destruction is not incidental or inadvertent,” he said. "It’s intentional, widespread and often conducted to ensure that people cannot return to their homes. What was going on in Gaza was not even warfare, it was just wanton destruction of buildings and indiscriminate bombing of residential areas.”

About 60 per cent of buildings in Gaza – at least 151,265 structures – and 57 per cent of its agricultural land have been damaged or destroyed in the continuing Israeli military campaign, according to a UN assessment last month. The war has damaged or destroyed more than 92 per cent of Gaza’s main roads and more than 84 per cent of its health facilities, the UN has found. It estimates nearly 70 per cent of Gaza’s water and sanitation plants have been destroyed or damaged.

Israel is already the defendant in a case brought by South Africa to the International Courts of Justice, accusing it of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in its war on the Gaza Strip. With Israel invading Lebanon and pounding residential areas with air strikes aimed at what it calls targets related to the militant group Hezbollah, Prof Rajagopal said it is “beginning to look like Israel is conducting a similar campaign of domicide".

'Foundation for future annexation'

“What we are seeing in Lebanon mirrors the destruction in Gaza. It’s an intentional effort to destroy homes, schools, mosques and other basic infrastructure in a way that would prevent people from rebuilding and returning." he said.

Nearly a quarter of southern Lebanon has been damaged following a month of Israeli aggression, with more than 6,000 structures damaged, including mosques and hospitals. Lebanon's disaster risk management unit reported that at least 14 towns had been subjected to a total of 3,809 attacks by Israel over the past year. Experts have raised concerns that Israel may be aiming to create a depopulated buffer zone, a strategy it has already used in northern Gaza.

Prof Rajagopal pointed out that Israel’s actions in Lebanon, justified as retaliation for cross-border attacks by Hezbollah, still require adherence to international humanitarian law, which mandates proportionality and civilian protection.

“Israel is engaging in the systematic flattening of villages through what appears to be controlled explosions – this is not proportional and doesn’t distinguish between military targets and civilian life,” he said.

With the massive displacement orders across the Bekaa Valley between the Blue Line and the Litani river, and the destruction of empty buildings, Prof Rajagopal said Israel was “laying the groundwork for annexation” in the future.

“So clearly, what’s going on is a territorial conquest. Annexation through the use of force of a territory that doesn’t belong to you is about as serious a violation of international law as it gets. I’m just astonished that the world is going to stand by and allow this.”

He said it sets an “astonishingly bad message” for every powerful country in the world that they are free to invade a weaker neighbour and seize whatever territory is needed.

Gap in international law

While the term domicide remains new in international law discussions, Prof Rajagopal said the practice it describes is being used on a scale, and with intent, in modern warfare such that it requires legal recognition. He proposes it should be defined as the deliberate destruction of housing during armed conflict, where the primary goal is to make areas permanently uninhabitable.

Civilian homes are currently protected by international law in conflicts between states. Purposeful destruction of them is considered a war crime but not a crime against humanity, which covers conflicts within a state or involving non-state actors, such as those between Israel and the Hamas militant group, or Myanmar’s military and rebel forces.

Prof Rajagopal is campaigning for amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to recognise domicide as a stand-alone crime against humanity. Such amendments have been made before; the same statute initially listed starvation as a tool of conflict as a war crime but in 2022 it upgraded it to a crime against humanity.

His mission initially gained traction in response to Russia’s bombing of Ukrainian cities in 2022. However, he pointed out an apparent “double standard” in how international leaders respond to allegations of domicide by Israel.

“There is selective silence when it comes to Israel,” he said. “Western countries that praised the concept when I applied it to Ukraine are now silent. But Middle Eastern countries and those from the Global South are very receptive.”