Unexploded bombs in Gaza will take years to clear, says Palestine UN Mine Action chief

The residents of Gaza have faced unimaginable horrors since October. The massive bombardments that pummelled the territory over the last five months have flattened entire neighbourhoods, and when reconstruction eventually begins, the costs are likely to be in the tens of billions.

That reconstruction will be hampered by an unwelcome, deadly, hangover from the conflict: unexploded bombs, missiles, and other types of munitions.

The UN’s Mine Action Service has warned that “an extraordinary volume of explosive remnants of war is expected to contaminate civilian areas including residential areas, threaten lives and impede the safe delivery of emergency and humanitarian assistance.”

Mungo Birch, the Chief of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Palestine, told Conor Lennon from UN News that the current conflict has undone all of the work his team had done before 7 October.