Unexploded bombs pose ‘enormous’ risks in Gaza, mine-clearing NGO warns

Unexploded ordnance, ranging from undetonated bombs or grenades to simple bullets, has become a common sight in the Gaza Strip during the two years of the war. Photo / Getty Images

Unexploded ordnance in Gaza poses “enormous” risks for displaced people returning home during the ceasefire, the NGO Handicap International warned today, calling for the entry of equipment needed for demining.

“The risks are enormous - an estimated 70,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped on Gaza” since the start of the war, said Anne-Claire Yaeesh, the organisation’s director for the Palestinian territories.

Handicap International specialises in mine clearance and assistance to victims of anti-personnel mines.

Unexploded ordnance, ranging from undetonated bombs or grenades to simple bullets, has become a common sight in the Gaza Strip during the two years of the war, sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

“The layers of rubble and levels of accumulation are extremely high,” Yaeesh said.

She warned that the risks are aggravated by the “extremely complex” nature of the environment, due to the limited space in densely populated urban areas.

In January, the UN’s Mine Action Service (UNMAS) estimated that “5 to 10%” of the munitions fired on Gaza had not exploded.

Since then, fighting has continued, with the Israeli Army notably launching a large-scale operation in mid-September in Gaza City.

A ceasefire, the third since the start of the war, came into effect last week in the Gaza Strip.

Contacted by AFP, UNMAS said that due to restrictions imposed over the past two years, its teams had “not been able to conduct large-scale survey operations in Gaza”, and the agency therefore does not have “a comprehensive picture of the [explosive ordnance] threat in the Strip”.

Explosive hazards on roads

Nicholas Orr, a former UK military deminer who worked in Gaza for Handicap International, told AFP in March that he was unable to obtain permission to conduct bomb disposal in Gaza, as Israeli aerial surveillance could have mistaken him for a militant attempting to repurpose unexploded ordnance into weapons.

UNMAS nonetheless stressed that since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10 requests for technical expertise “have surged”, and the agency has been called upon for “a range of humanitarian missions including to areas that were previously inaccessible”.

In the coming days, “a large part of the efforts will focus on ensuring the safety of debris management operations” and clearing rubble, particularly along the roads used by the thousands of displaced people returning home.

While the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday that humanitarian workers would “assess key roads for explosive hazards”, UNMAS stated that it has “a limited number of armoured vehicles on the ground which means that we can only conduct a certain number of explosive hazard assessments each day”.

The United Nations agency also said it had not yet obtained authorisation from Israeli authorities to bring in the necessary equipment for the destruction of unexploded ordnance.

At the moment, UNMAS said it had three armoured vehicles “at the border waiting to enter Gaza, which will allow safer and larger-scale operations”.

-Agence France-Presse