Israel's systematic bombing of housing in Gaza a 'war crime': UN expert

The widespread and systematic bombardment of housing and civilian infrastructure in Gaza amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity, an independent United Nations expert has said.

A month of Israeli attacks on targets within Gaza have destroyed or damaged 45 percent of all housing units in the Palestinian territory, Balakrishnan Rajagopal said on Wednesday, warning the destruction comes at a "tremendous cost to human life".

The UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing stressed that systematic or widespread bombardment of housing, civilian objects and infrastructure are strictly prohibited under international law.

"Carrying out hostilities with the knowledge that they will systematically destroy and damage civilian housing and infrastructure, rendering an entire city - such as Gaza City - uninhabitable for civilians is a war crime," he said.

When such acts are "directed against a civilian population, they also amount to crimes against humanity", he said.

Israel launched its massive bombardment in Gaza after Hamas staged an unprecedented attack on October 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking more than 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

The Palestinian group said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al Aqsa Mosque and growing violence by Israeli settlers.

Death, destruction

According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, Israel's bombardment has killed more than 10,500 people, most of them women and children.

Nearly 2,500 others, more than half of them children, have been reported missing and are most likely trapped under the rubble.

Rajagopal, an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who does not speak on behalf of the United Nations, had previously coined the term "domicide" to refer to the systematic and widespread attacks on civilian housing and infrastructure that cause death and suffering.

Domicide, he said, "is now being committed in Gaza".

Around 1.5 million people have been displaced in Gaza amid the destruction, according to UN figures.

Rajagopal said the Israeli evacuation order, issued despite a lack of adequate shelter and aid for those fleeing and while cutting off water, food, fuel and medicine and repeatedly attacking evacuation routes and "safe zones", was "a cruel and blatant violation of international humanitarian law".

He said international humanitarian law is based on the distinction between civilian and military objects.