Boy loses arm, sister critical after playing with explosive they thought was a toy
Seven-year-old Yahya and his sister Nabila were playing outside in Gaza when they found what looked like a toy, their mother Latifa al-Sharabasi says.
“They found a regular children’s toy – just an ordinary one. The girl was holding it. Then the boy took it and started tapping it with a coin. Suddenly, we heard the sound of an explosion. It went off in their hands,” she said.
Yahya’s right arm was amputated. Nabila remains in intensive care.
Dr Harriet, an emergency doctor at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City who refused to give her last name, told Al Jazeera: “We’re seeing children hurt by devices that look harmless – toys, cans or debris – but they’re actually unexploded bombs.”
“It’s a public health catastrophe waiting to unfold,” the doctor said.
Gaza Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basel said about 70,000 tonnes of Israeli explosives remain scattered across Gaza, threatening Palestinian families returning home.
Luke David Irving, who heads the UN’s Mine Action Service in the occupied Palestinian territory, said 328 people have been killed or injured by unexploded ordnance in Gaza since October 2023.
Clearing unexploded ordnances in Gaza a mammoth task, but under way
The scale of unexploded ordnances in Gaza is what will make it more challenging compared to other war zones, says Nicholas Torbet, the Middle East director at the Halo Trust, a United Kingdom-based charity that clears and manages explosives around the world.
“Gaza is essentially one giant city … every single part of it has been hit by ordnance,” Torbet told Al Jazeera, speaking from London.
“In London, there are still unexploded bombs 80 years after the [World War II] conflict, so it’s a long-term problem … Some munitions are designed to linger, but what we’re concerned about in Gaza is ordinance that is expected to explode upon impact but hasn’t.”
Torbet said the issue is slowing down reconstruction in the Palestinian enclave as well.
“What we plan to do, is particularly [when] we’re dealing with unexploded bombs rather than landmines, is embed bomb disposal teams right into the heart of reconstruction,” he said.
Torbet continued: “What we don’t want to do is turn up, draw red boxes and mark off areas that may or may not be cleared for years. What we want to do is really work closely with those communities and make sure our teams are in the right place at the right time.”
The equipment required to remove such explosives is manageable, he added, and can be carried in the backs of cars, as well as by any able-bodied person.
“The best way to dispose of a bomb is to use a small amount of explosives to blow it up,” Torbet explained.
“We do have more advanced machinery … but what we need straight away is that relatively simple equipment and access to explosives, which is starting to happen now.”
