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Aid group warns 'thousands' in Gaza at risk from unexploded ordnance
8 February 2025 16:01 GMT
Unexploded bombs and shells buried beneath the ruins of Gaza could kill or injure thousands of people in the future, an aid organisation has warned.
The volume of ordnance dropped on Gaza for 15 months was "mind-boggling", said Simon Elmont, a demining expert with Humanity and Inclusion, formerly known as Handicap International.
"The amount of ordnance that has been fired is an enormous quantity," Elmont told AFP, adding that between 9 and 13 percent of munitions fail to explode on initial impact.
"It is going to be tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance, that's for sure," he added.
Elmont said the contamination level in Gaza was massive, and much of the unexploded ordnance "lies mainly within the rubble and underneath the surface of Gaza".