Israel’s war in Gaza has created 37 million tonnes of debris, much of it littered with unexploded bombs, which could take more than a decade to clear, a top UN official said.
Nearly seven months after the start of the war, there is an average of 300 kilograms of rubble per square meter of land in Gaza, Pehr Lodhammar, former head of the United Nations’ Iraq Mine Action Service, told a news conference.
“Based on the current [ποσότητα] of the debris in Gaza, with 100 trucks we are talking about 14 years of work … to remove it,” he said. With the war continuing, it is impossible to estimate how long the clean-up may take, he added.
Israel has been accused of “murder” because of the intensity of its shelling of Gaza, which has reduced large swathes of the strip to rubble. 65% of the buildings destroyed in Gaza were residential, he said.
Slow and dangerous work
Clearing and rebuilding them will be slow and dangerous work due to the threat of shells, rockets or other weapons buried in collapsed or damaged buildings. On average, about 10 percent of the weapons failed to detonate when launched, Lodhammar said, and had to be removed by demining teams, according to the Guardian.
Clearing and rebuilding them will be slow and dangerous work due to the threat of buried shells, rockets or other weapons
An Egyptian delegation led by the country’s top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, arrived in Israel to meet with their Israeli counterparts in an attempt to revive stalled talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Egyptian efforts to end the war through negotiations have been combined with stern warnings against a planned Israeli offensive on Rafah, the only place in Gaza where Israel has not sent ground troops.
“Disastrous Consequences”
The border town is home to more than half of Gaza’s population, most displaced by fighting in other areas, and is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid into the strip.
An attack there would have “catastrophic consequences” not only for Palestinian civilians, but also for regional peace and security, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said this week. Cairo has previously said an Israeli attack on Rafah would violate the decades-old peace deal with Egypt.
Israeli leaders say four Hamas battalions have taken refuge among civilians in Rafah and must be destroyed. Troops, tanks and armored vehicles have been massed in the south of the country in apparent preparation for the attack.
Airstrikes in Rafah have also escalated in recent days. One of the most recent victims was a baby girl, who had come out of her dying mother’s womb.
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