Thousands of bombs trapped under rubble in Gaza could take a decade to clear ...Middle East

Thousands of bombs dropped on Gaza may still be buried undetonated under rubble and will take at least a decade to clear, ordnance experts have warned.

A ceasefire has been agreed between Hamas and Israel after 15 months of bloody war in Gaza.

Bombing is due to end on Sunday morning, with the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and a surge in humanitarian aid entering the besieged enclave.

While the deal has been welcomed in Gaza and around the world, it also marks the beginning of a complex and painful rebuilding process in the Strip.

More than 1.9 million people have been displaced, 90 per cent of housing units have been destroyed and the healthcare and education systems all but collapsed.

There are more than 42 million tonnes of rubble to remove, which the UN estimates will take up to ten years to clear at a cost of up to $700m (£574m).

Much of the rubble will be littered with unexploded munitions which could pose a risk to life long after bombs stop falling, a leading munitions expert told The i Paper.

Greg Crowther, programme director of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) which clears unexploded bombs around the world, said that clearing Gaza would take at least a decade and cost tens of millions of pounds.

He warned that people could be killed or injured when returning to homes which have not been cleared, and that the sheer scale of devastation would hinder the reopening of schools, hospitals and other essential services already crippled by the conflict.

“There is an immediate threat to life for people who don’t wait for formal reconstruction. They go home, hire a truck, and try to dig it up by hand,” he said. “As people return to their homes, and maybe take children with them, there are risks.

“But the main problem is that the reconstruction process is elongated. This means it will be such a long time before basic services can get up and running.”

Mr Crowther said that removing the rubble and unexploded devices was “key to enabling reconstruction, to allow people to return to homes that are safe and to reopen essential services like clinics and schools”.

Gaza reconstruction to begin after ceasefire

The ceasefire will be introduced in stages.

In the first phase, 33 Israeli hostages classed as vulnerable are to be released by Hamas during a 42-day truce, in which hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails.

The two sides will begin talks over a second and third phase during the exchanges, which would see more hostages and prisoners released, leading to an end of the war.

As part of the ceasefire deal, Israel will allow reconstruction efforts on Gaza’s infrastructure – such as roads, schools and hospitals – to begin, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.

Israel has committed to allowing Egyptian-owned construction companies to enter the strip, along with the entry of engineering equipment, building materials, steel and other supplies, the newspaper says.

However, it is not clear when this work will begin.

A UN assessment after seven months of war found that rebuilding homes in Gaza would take until at least 2040 and cost as much as £32bn, but this is likely to have extended dramatically.

But he warned this was incredibly difficult and expensive because it entailed “removing tens of thousands of tonnes of debris, and buried within there is an unknown quantity of unexploded ordnance”.

Mr Crowther said there were “certainly hundreds, most likely thousands of unexploded munitions under the rubble”, and that after a four-week conflict in 2008/2009 MAG responded to more than 300 disposal incidents across two years.

“It’s a heavily urbanised area which has been subjected to repeated, high-frequency bombing over 15 months as well as a whole range of ground fighting,” he said.

“The difficulty is that assessing how contaminated it is is really complex, because the buildings have collapsed and the ordnance is often buried underneath tons of concrete.

“A fairly high proportion of munitions don’t explode as planned, and in an urban area this can be even higher. The percentage varies from 10 to 30 per cent, depending on the type of munition.”

The precise amount of munitions dropped on Gaza is not known, but the Hamas-controlled Government Media Office estimates that this is 75,000 tonnes, while Gaza’s Environmental Quality Authority estimates around 85,000.

International aid needed for clear up

The mine clearance expert said it was essential that the international community supported de-mining and reconstruction efforts, and that the amount of international aid for this would determine the length of time it took.

“Fundamentally, it is going to take more than a decade because you’ve got to get rid of all of the unexploded ordnance,” he said.

“The unexploded ordnance issue adds tens of millions to the cost of reconstructing, because it requires specialised equipment and very highly trained expertise.

‘Joy and sorrow’ in Gaza ahead of ceasefire deal

Gazans have shared “mixed feelings” about the ceasefire deal, which is due to be enforced in less than 24 hours.

Amjad Al-Shawa is director of the Palestinian NGOs Network which works with the UK-based charity ActionAid, said: “We are happy finally to have agreement, at the same time we have concerns about the future of Gaza, ourselves, after this destruction. What will we do next?

“Gaza is almost destroyed; houses, facilities, schools, universities, water services. There are mountains of rubble, and it’s challenging to know where to start,” Mr Al-Shawa said.

“To imagine your children have lost two years of their lives, with no education, nothing. It’s not a nightmare, its our reality. We have to open our eyes to this. When the kids go back and find a mountain of rubble where their things should be, and their schools and universities collapsed – how will they manage?

Amal Syam, director of the Women’s Affairs Centre in Gaza, said that the agreement “brings a mix of joy and sorrow” as Gazans face the reality of those lost.

“On one hand, it allows us to reunite with family, loved ones, and friends. On the other, it forces us to confront the painful absence of those we have lost, and the haunting reality of people still trapped beneath the rubble,” she said.

“It needs the permission of Israel, it needs the funds of the international community, but it also needs the support of the community. Human remains could well be buried there – you can’t just go in and start removing things.”

In the short term, Mr Crowther said that “risk education was key”, with MAG deploying 20 risk education teams across Gaza to teach communities how to stay safe around explosive hazards.

Becky Platt, a British nurse who volunteered in Gaza with Save the Children, warned that Gaza’s healthcare system would take years to rebuild.

“Gaza was like nothing I’d ever seen before. In and around Rafah, even though that was designated ‘safe zone’ much of that had been completely reduced to rubble. Buildings completely flattened, mangled houses and blown up cars,” she said.

“There was debris everywhere and people living in makeshift, informal shelters. The infrastructure has completely broken down.”

Children who had lost limbs in bomb attacks were being given paracetamol and ibuprofen instead of morphine because a shortage of pain relief, while those with long term conditions like epilepsy and diabetes were unable to manage their health because they had no access to medication.

“It’s difficult to imagine how Gaza can be rebuilt in any reasonable timeframe, she said.

“Not only have hospitals and healthcare destroyed, but so have most children’s schools. They’ve been out of education for the best part of 18 months. This is psychological distress that’s going to last a lifetime.”

Palestinians in the Bureij Refugee Camp, two days before the ceasefire is due to begin. (Photo: Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty)Men sit on rubble in Yarmouk Camp in Gaza (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas/Anadolu via Getty)

“We should be glad about the fact we can get aid in, and start getting crucial medication and nutrition in for people but lets not forget that we’ve still lot a whole lot to do over years,” Ms Platt added.

“There’s obviously a lot of relief and hope, but it feels like beginning of another long and difficult road. It doesn’t mean this is all resolved.”

Mohammed Alkhatib, deputy director of programmes at Medical Aid for Palestinians, based in Khan Younis, said that the waiting list for people to be treated abroad currently exceeded 13,000 people.

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“Considering the ceasefire and the re-opening of a restricted areas with zero functional medical facilities, like in northern Gaza and Rafah, it will be difficult for people in need of medical care to have the access to the essential services, and because of the destruction happened within the existing medical facilities, lost within the medical staff, maintenance needed for plenty of equipment, and the exhaustion of all medical force staff,” he said.

“The medical system will need a long time to recover, hence the availability of specialised medical services would be limited and people in need will keep struggling.”

Mr Alkhatib said that while the ceasefire marked the end of one chapter, it also marked the start of another.

“It’s difficult to assess how long the rebuilding will take because the situation is still unclear. Plenty of factors will affect it, including, but not limited to, the crossing situation, thorough assessments, availability of funding, infrastructure, capacity building.

“The only thing that everyone will agree on, is that it will be long and difficult process, and will require the coordination and support of all key actors.”

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