Israeli airstrikes destroyed 40% houses in Gaza in war with Hamas, analysts flag ‘domicide’. Explained
Gaza is now destroyed, or un-inhabitable. International analysts have termed this ‘domicide’ - the mass destruction of dwellings to make the territory uninhabitable. According to a report published by Guardian, as much as 40% of the housing in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed.
The UN says 1.8 million people are internally displaced inside Gaza, many living in overcrowded UN shelters in the south. While the world terms Israel's attack on Palestine's Gaza as genocide and demands immediate ceasefire, a problem looms in the dark. Will Gaza remain habitable for the Palestinians? Israel had started bombing North Gaza and asked residents to evacuate and move towards south Gaza, which was declared safe zone in October.
However, after a brief pause in Israel's air and ground attacks on Gaza, The Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli army has now intensified their ground offensive in Southern Gaza. This time they have asked residents to move to the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt. Although Gaza has been damaged in previous conflicts and rebuilt, largely with money from the Gulf states, the current scale of the devastation is of a different order.
At issue is whether the scale of the infrastructure damage is a byproduct of the search for Hamas or part of a covert plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza, erasing the possibility of Gaza becoming a semi-viable society in the foreseeable future. Domicide is not a distinct crime against humanity under international law. The destruction of homes in Aleppo in the Syrian civil war, the flattening of Rohingya settlements in Myanmar and the destruction of Mariupol in Ukraine have in recent years increased focus on the issue.
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