Of the many horrors unfolding in my home town of Gaza, one remains hidden for now but threatens to shatter hopes of recovery long after the bombings stop.
Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth and, sadly, may become one of the most contaminated in terms of unexploded ordnance – a deadly legacy that will claim lives and hinder attempts at reconstruction for years to come.
I know this because My Role As Emergency Response Manager for the Mine Advisory Group (MAG), I will be tasked with supporting my colleagues in the removal of unexploded ordnance left behind. Our daily work involves sifting through the rubble and debris of war with heavy equipment, searching for a way out of the destruction and devastation.
Because I’m from Gaza City, I have a special personal interest in returning my hometown to some sort of normalcy — a place where children can play on the beach and parents can go about their lives as normal without the fear of an unexploded ordnance exploding nearby.
Since 7 October, hundreds of thousands of missiles, grenades, artillery shells, mortars and other weapons have been used in Gaza. A significant number of these weapons are unexploded and may be buried in the ground, in the rubble or lying on the surface. Mine and explosive ordnance experts like us will have to enter the war zone after the dust settles to find and safe each and every one of these potentially deadly weapons. Gaza faces a painstaking and dangerous rebuilding effort that could cost around $40bn (£32bn) and take more than a decade to complete, according to the UN Development Programme.
The exact scale of the challenge will only be known when safe access allows for proper investigation, but its nature will certainly be unique. Comparing it to recent urban conflicts in which our colleagues have extensive experience, the contamination in Gaza will undoubtedly be more complex than that seen in Mosul in Iraq or Raqqa in northern Syria, where the fight against the Islamic State left widespread devastation whose traces are still visible. These sites were destroyed by the use of heavy artillery, but the sheer scale of destruction in Gaza (twice the size of Mosul) and the dense nature of Gaza’s urban environment will make the cleanup here extremely difficult.
The scale of the task is compounded by the variety of weapons deployed, from precision-guided missiles to artillery fire to grenades. There is an estimated 37 million tonnes of debris that experts must sift through to detonate the explosives, plus air-dropped bombs that may be buried as deep as 14 metres below the surface. Each requires a different approach, with some detonating in situ, while others require highly trained explosives experts to defuse complex and delicate fuses.
Such cleanup operations are costly, time-consuming, and inherently dangerous, with known asbestos and chemical hazards in Gaza, and additional biological or radiological hazards in places like hospitals from contaminated equipment and x-ray facilities. Sadly, explosive ordnance disposal experts would likely also be faced with the harrowing task of dealing with human remains.
As the new UK government begins to consider what it will need on “day one” of the war, and with competing geopolitical priorities globally, countries must consider how they will begin to manage the aftermath of this conflict. Because the sooner we can assess, prioritize and begin the dangerous and difficult task of removal, the sooner we can provide safe passage for humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of vital infrastructure.
For me, this is personal. I left Gaza three months ago, but my family remains there, taking refuge in makeshift shelters to escape the missiles, along with hundreds of thousands of others in Khan Younis. I worry about the future of my family, my nieces and nephews. When will we have a home? When will we go to school? When will we be able to walk without fear? I constantly think about the safety of my loved ones and the hope for peace, which is long overdue.
As an expert who has been involved in humanitarian mine action for the past decade, I will also consider concrete actions we can take. now To ensure the swiftest possible recovery for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The steps are simple to define: an end to the killings, a ceasefire to allow safe access, and financial assistance pledged and provided by the international community as soon as possible.
The sooner Gaza is made safe, the sooner we can rebuild our communities and begin to pick up the pieces of our shattered lives.
