While fighting in the air may have stopped in Gaza, there is still a risk for Palestinians to return to parts of the land under war due to unexploded bombs on the ground.
They join the piles of debris and destruction.
Efforts are underway in Gaza to find and remove these bombs, starting in the southern Gaza city of Rafah – which has seen some of the heaviest fighting of the war 15-month long between Israel and Hamas. But mine advisory groups say that to deal with the large number of unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind, a wider response is essential.
For Gazans, it is an added fear of death despite a ceasefire that has halted air and ground offensives.
“We are afraid for the young ones, for our families,” Raed Al-Akka, a 27-year-old father of three from Rafah, told CBC News
“I'm afraid to leave the house and come across a rocket exploding at me or my wife or my children, or in the street at my neighbors … anywhere.”
While the Israel-Hamas ceasefire appears to be holding in Gaza, danger remains for Palestinians as widespread no-explosion orders appear to be in effect in areas across the strip. is at war. Mohammed Muqdad, head of the explosives department in Rafah, says teams have been working every day to remove as much as they can with minimal equipment.
With access to Gaza still limited, especially in the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefireit is challenging to estimate the level of explosives contamination at this stage, said Greg Crowther, director of programs with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
“There will clearly be a significant risk to life and a long-term setback to rebuilding efforts,” Crowther said in an email to CBC News Friday.
'Dangerous environment'
For now, the focus is on risk education in the area.
MAG, which had helped clear Gaza of landmines following the 2008 and 2009 conflict, partnered with the Save Youth Future Society, and deployed 20 risk education teams across Gaza to educate communities to teach them how to stay safe around explosive hazards by recognizing, avoiding and reporting potential hazards. . They have delivered sessions to over 160,000 people since launching in September 2024.
Crowther said that because Gaza is densely populated and highly urbanized, the use of explosive weapons has had a “really terrible effect”.
“In addition to what can be seen, you also have to include things that have not yet exploded but are still hidden, putting people at risk – this creates a particularly dangerous environment because people returning to their homes and digging through debris,” he said.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has previously warned of “increasingly widespread” explosive ordnance across the tiny coastal enclave that has been bombarded by Israel.
They said their explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams have encountered aerial bombs, mortars, rockets, high-caliber projectiles, grenades and improvised explosive devices.
Deep buried bombs common in Gaza
In Gaza in particular, buried bombs are found deep under or within infrastructure and under rubble.
“As families return to their homes, we are rapidly increasing our capacity to reduce the risk of an explosive ordnance to civilians and humanitarians alike,” UNMAS said in a post on Monday.
As more Palestinians return to various parts of the Gaza Strip after the cease-fire that began on Sunday, a UN damage assessment released this month showed that clearing more than 50 million tons of debris after 21 years of Israeli bombardment could will take and cost up to $1.2 billion US.
Mohammed Muqdad, head of Rafah's explosives department, said his teams began to find and remove the weapons in the first phase of the ceasefire.
“Rafah in particular has been under attack, most of the area has been destroyed,” Muqdad told CBC News on Wednesday.
“We've been dealing with dozens of unexploded ordnance that we transport to safe areas for eventual disposal.”
Children learning how to identify weapons
So far, the crews have completed more than 120 calls to remove UXO, working every day since Sunday.
“The team continues to work to remove more orders from residential areas,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to pick them up and remove (them).
Muqdad said the teams have removed bombs used in aircraft, such as MK, GBU 39, guns and tank bombs, but they need special technical equipment to detonate the much larger explosives. cleaning
Authorities have asked residents to stay away from certain dangerous areas and they are believed to be in possession of a large number of these devices.
Some ordinances, such as smaller explosives that go off from cluster munitions, may not seem like normal threats to children at first, which can be dangerous.
Crowther said that children also participate in the risk education sessions to be aware of the types of weapons that were used in the war.
“It is particularly important to share this information with them, as their natural curiosity can put them at greater risk of injury if they come across explosive weapons and simply assume they are toys they are,” he said.
Al-Akka called in experts to remove the explosives.
“So we can take our freedom and go to our homes, remove the debris and sit in our homes,” Al-Akka said.
“We have seen enough martyrs and bloodshed in the war.”
Limited coordination, capacity in Gaza
Crowther said that explosive threat assessments and surveillance activities as well as technical equipment must be expanded to allow for a broader humanitarian response.
“There is currently limited coordination and capacity to carry out these tasks, both in terms of the technical equipment required, and the number of qualified personnel currently in Gaza, Crowther said.
More than 47,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the 15-month war, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. Due to the chaos of the war, determining the exact number of casualties has been challenging and under investigation.
The coastal encirclement was largely demolished by the Israeli military following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. That attack killed 1,200 people with about 250 hostages taken into Gaza, according to Israeli figures. Some 94 Israelis and foreigners are still being held in Gaza. It is not clear how many are alive.
The Palestinian Civil Defense said they are searching for around 10,000 bodies believed to be still under the rubble.
A peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet on January 9 suggesting that the official figures on deaths in Gaza may be greatly underestimated. As of June 30, 2024, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported 37,877 deaths; the study estimated the number was likely around 64,200 by that date.
