Israel’s war in Gaza has created 37m tonnes of debris, much of it laced with unexploded bombs, which could take more than a decade to remove, a top UN demining official said.
Nearly seven months into the war, there is an average 300kg of rubble a square metre of land in Gaza, Pehr Lodhammar, the former United Nationals Mine Action Service chief for Iraq, told a news conference.
“Based on the current [amount] of debris in Gaza, with 100 trucks we are talking about 14 years of work … to remove it,” he said. With the war continuing, it was impossible to estimate how long clearance might take at its end, he added.
Israel has been accused of “domicide” over the intensity of its bombing campaign in Gaza, which has reduced large swathes of the strip to ruins. Sixty-five per cent of the buildings destroyed in Gaza were residential, Lodhammar said.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Nearly seven months into the war, there is an average 300kg of rubble a square metre of land in Gaza, Pehr Lodhammar, the former United Nationals Mine Action Service chief for Iraq, told a news conference.
In Israel, an Egyptian delegation led by the country’s top intelligence official, Abbas Kamel, arrived in an attempt to revive stalled talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Egyptian efforts to halt the war through negotiations have been paired with stark warnings against a planned Israeli assault on Rafah, the only place in Gaza where Israel has not sent in ground troops.
The border town shelters more than half of Gaza’s population, most displaced by fighting elsewhere, and at a time of looming famine it is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid into the strip.
Her father, Shukri, and three-year-old sister, Malak, were killed immediately and her mother, Sabreen al Sakani, died in hospital soon after her daughter was delivered by caesarean section.
There has been growing international pressure for a deal, with Hamas and Israel accusing each other of intransigence as the war continues and the toll from weapons, hunger and lack of medical care rises.
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