Israel’s widespread destruction of housing in Gaza may amount to war crimes, according to a UN expert.

“The crime of domicide is one which involves the systematic or widespread destruction of housing,” Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, told Al Jazeera in a television interview.

“Housing destruction on an individual basis, for example, when the destruction of a house is not justified as a military objective, is already a war crime under a Geneva Convention.”

As of July 21, data from Gaza indicated that roughly 60 percent of residential buildings had been damaged.