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.”