UN says it could take 10 years to clear unexploded bombs from Gaza
In its latest update, the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, says that one of the challenges for Gaza’s recovery will be clearing land mines and other unexploded ordnance left behind by 15 months of war.
OCHA cited a recent report from the Global Protection Cluster, a group of UN and other humanitarian organisations, which estimated the explosives buried in the rubble in Gaza would take “$500 million over 10 years to clear” from some 42 million tonnes of rubble which also contains asbestos, other hazardous contaminants and human remains.
For some perspective, 85,000 tonnes is over 3% of all bombs the allied forces dropped on Europe during WW2, equivalent to about 6 Hiroshima nuclear bombs and 7 times as much as the German Luftwaffe dropped on London during the Blitz. (German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom for eight months)
And Gaza today is less than 1/5th of the size of London in 1939, with 1/4th of the inhabitants of London in 1939.
Israeli forces destroyed SOS Children’s Village in Rafah
SOS Children’s Village said its staff visited its facility, which serves children without parental care, in the southern city of Rafah, only to discover it had been completely destroyed.
“The former residential homes have been reduced to rubble,” said Reem Alreqeb, the acting director of SOS Children’s Villages in Rafah, who was among those on the site visit.
“No one anticipated such a scale of destruction,” she said. “The children’s representative kept asking, ‘Where is my home? Where are my children’s memories?’… They had hoped to find even a small part of their memories and their children’s memories, but unfortunately, everything was completely erased.”
SOS Children’s Village said it evacuated its facility in Rafah in May of last year when Israeli forces launched an offensive in the southern city. It said that although the village was recognised as a humanitarian centre, it was threatened with bombs that landed as close as 200 metres.
“Had we not left, we probably would have all been killed. This is yet another tragic reminder that innocent children bear the highest cost of this brutal war,” said Alreqeb.
The charity currently takes care of some 33 children who were found unaccompanied and separated from their parents.
“We will need to rebuild the village from scratch. Unfortunately, it is likely that the children and staff who remain in Gaza will have to live in temporary shelters for a long time,” Alreqeb added.
Bodies of 162 Palestinians recovered from Gaza rubble since ceasefire: Civil Defence
Gaza’s Civil Defence says 162 bodies have been recovered in the enclave since the implementation of the ceasefire. Civil defence crews and residents continue their search for the bodies of Palestinians still buried under the rubble, hampered by the lack of heavy equipment and machinery.
Israeli forces had been preventing ambulance and rescue crews from reaching some areas to relieve the injured and recover the dead, especially in the eastern and southern regions, near the Philadelphi Corridor – the area along the Egyptian border.
Gaza residents cope with rain, lack of shelter amid ‘partial relief’ with arrival of aid
We understand that more than 3,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza during the first four days of the ceasefire. The arrival of aid has brought partial relief to the population.
Humanitarian organisations have started to distribute the aid from centres throughout Gaza. Civilians are lined up at the gates of these aid centres waiting desperately to access these supplies.
Their suffering is exacerbated by rainfall and a search for alternative shelter, especially for families who have returned to the remnants of their destroyed houses.
A displaced Palestinian youth holds a baby as children sit inside a tent in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on January 22
Gaza death toll rises
At least two people have been killed and 120 bodies recovered from previous attacks in Gaza in the past 24 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. It also said Gaza’s hospitals received 306 injured people in that period.
The announcement raised Gaza’s total death toll to 47,283. Israel’s war on Gaza injured a total of 111,472 Palestinians, the ministry added.
