The Gaza Strip has more debris and rubble than Ukraine, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). Six months into the Israeli war on Gaza, UNMAS estimated that the amount of debris in the Gaza Strip is 37 million tonnes as of mid-April.
This is equivalent to 300 kilograms per square metre. The volume of rubble is only one of the problems. The rubble is likely to be heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO), and the clearance will be complicated by other hazards in the rubble.
Mungo Birch, head of the UNMAS program in the Palestinian territories, said that Gaza has more rubble than Ukraine. To put that into perspective, the Ukrainian front line is 600 miles (nearly 1,000 kilometres) long, while Gaza is only 25 miles (40 km) long. The debris in Gaza contains an estimated 800,000 tonnes of asbestos, which is a cancer-causing mineral used in construction.
It is generally estimated that 10 to 15 percent of the munitions fired do not explode on impact, making them a lasting danger for civilian populations. UNMAS hopes to become the coordination body for mine action in Gaza. The organization has secured $5M of funding but requires a further $40 million to continue its work in Gaza over the next 12 months. According to Birch, the sector as a whole will require hundreds of millions of US dollars over multiple years to make Gaza safe again for the population.
A meeting of the main players in these future operations was held two weeks ago in Amman. Under the leadership of the United Nations Development Programme, the UNDP is piloting the clearance plan, and the participants went through the likely means and methods required when the time comes. Birch said that because the level of rubble is so unprecedented, new thinking is necessary on how to proceed with the clearance.
Follow the latest news on Google News
