Ministry of Public Works and Housing (Indonesia)

• The Israeli bombardment of Gaza following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes.
• At least 43% of all housing units in the Gaza Strip have been either destroyed or damaged since the start of the hostilities, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza.
• Israel says that 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel and more than 220 taken hostage.
• Domicide refers to the deliberate destruction of home, or the killing of the city or home.

The destruction of Homs

• My home city of Homs, Syria, which I focus on in my research, has been completely transformed since the 2011 uprising against the government of Bashar al Assad.
• Over 50% of the neighbourhoods have been heavily destroyed, and over a quarter partially destroyed.
• In Homs, for example, whole neighbourhoods that opposed the Assad regime were targeted and razed to the ground.

Domicide in Gaza

• There is no need to compare Homs and Gaza, as each place has its own context and struggle.
• Gaza has been described as an open prison and people in that open prison have been pushed away from their homes.
• Raz Segal, an Israeli historian, wrote: “Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed.” Others argue vehemently against any moral equivalence with the Hamas attacks.

Catastrophe for Palestinians

• It’s not the first time that Palestinians in Gaza have had their homes destroyed.
• Many of the Palestinians who live in Gaza are people who have been displaced before.
• This is why many academics, activists, journalists and even Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, call for context, for situating the Palestinian struggle within a history of suffering, dispossession and forced displacement since the Nakba (catastrophe) in 1948.

Ammar Azzouz receives funding from British Academy for his research fellowship at the university.