The Gaza Center for Human Rights warned of the growing danger posed by tens of thousands of tons of unexploded ordnance left behind by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip.In a statement received by Safa News Agency on Friday, the center said that these remnants pose a daily threat to civilian lives and humanitarian response efforts on the ground, hindering rescue efforts, rubble removal, and attempts to restore normal life.He explained that initial estimates indicate the presence of approximately 20,000 unexploded explosive devices, including bombs, missiles, and shells dropped by the occupation army during the ongoing military aggression and genocide that has lasted for more than two years.He pointed out that these estimates, by mid-October 2025, indicate an accumulation of approximately 65 to 70 million tons of rubble resulting from the destruction of thousands of homes, facilities, and vital installations.He stated that there are approximately 71,000 tons of unexploded explosives and remnants in its midst, which constitute ticking time bombs.He warned that these huge amounts of rubble, along with unexploded ordnance, further complicate matters and place Gaza facing the largest humanitarian disaster in modern history.He warned that unexploded ordnance and remnants of war in Gaza pose a grave threat to displaced persons returning to their residential areas and hinder their attempts to restore normal life there.The center quoted Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal as saying that the waste poses a significant threat, with an estimated 71,000 tons of unexploded explosives and remnants.He added, “During the recovery operations, we face real risks. Any wrong move could lead to an explosion that could kill civil defense personnel or civilians at the site.”He explained that much of this waste has been found inside residential buildings, roads, and agricultural areas, making every rescue or cleanup operation potentially deadly.The center noted that it had recorded numerous explosions resulting from unexploded ordnance in recent months, the most recent of which occurred in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.He explained that the explosion of a buried shell resulted in the deaths of three citizens as they attempted to remove rubble from around their home. A similar explosion also occurred in the Nuseirat refugee camp, injuring four workers who were removing rubble, as well as in the town of Al-Qarara in Khan Yunis.He emphasized that these incidents represent vivid evidence of the ongoing danger lurking in every street and neighborhood in the Gaza Strip. Every place subjected to Israeli shelling or incursion has become a potential site for a sudden explosion as displaced persons attempt to return, or as humanitarian teams prepare to receive displaced persons, retrieve bodies, or reclaim land for agriculture.He considered unexploded ordnance to be a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, particularly the Geneva Conventions, which oblige occupying forces to take all feasible measures to protect civilians, ensure the removal of remnants of war from populated areas, and disclose the locations of unexploded ordnance and bombs.The Gaza Center called for the formation of specialized international committees under United Nations supervision to conduct a comprehensive and rapid survey of all areas of the Gaza Strip to identify the locations of unexploded ordnance.He called for the dispatch of international engineering teams equipped with the necessary equipment and expertise to remove this waste and secure populated areas.He stressed the need to compel the occupation authorities to immediately disclose maps and locations of the munitions and bombs they dropped on the Gaza Strip during the war, or those they planted in certain locations, to enable safe handling of them.He said that the cornerstone of the success of these efforts also requires international pressure to open the crossings immediately and allow the entry of heavy equipment and machinery necessary to remove the rubble and recover the bodies.He called for the development of a comprehensive national plan for rubble management, in cooperation with international institutions, that includes risk classification, safe recycling, and temporary storage of usable materials to enable the safe commencement of reconstruction.He stressed that the international community’s silence on this catastrophic reality constitutes indirect complicity in the continued suffering of the people of Gaza, who now live amidst ruins saturated with death.He stressed that protecting civilians after the cessation of hostilities is no less important than protecting them during them, and that the responsibility falls on the international community to end this humanitarian catastrophe before it turns into an open grave under the rubble.
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