JERUSALEM: Unexploded ordnance in Gaza poses “enormous” risks for displaced people returning home during a US-led ceasefire, the NGO Handicap International warned Tuesday, calling for the entry of equipment needed for demining.
“The risks are enormous — an estimated 70,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza” since the start of the war, said Anne-Claire Yaeesh, the organization’s director for the Palestinian territories.
Handicap International specializes 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.
