‘Domicide: The Killing of Home’ with Ammar Azzouz

In the current Gaza war, as much as 40% of the housing has been damaged or destroyed, with over 1.8 million people internally displaced. The destruction of more than a third of Gaza’s homes is leading international legal experts to raise the concept of “domicide” – the mass destruction of dwellings to make the territory uninhabitable. This concept is increasingly accepted in academia but is not a distinct crime against humanity under international law.

In his book, Azzouz draws on the pain inflicted on his hometown of Homs, Syria, offering a blueprint for other urban areas of conflict across the world. From Aleppo to Mosul, Mali to Mariupol, to the ongoing destruction of Gaza, cities have been the epicenter of this type of violence. So what is the impact of domicide on the cultural and social fabric of these societies? What is the psychological and emotional toll on individuals and communities? And how can we prevent or resist domicide and rebuild what has been lost?