A United Nations team inspects an unexploded bomb on a main road in Gaza.
Mungo Birch, the head of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Palestine, today renewed his call for a ceasefire in Gaza as a first step towards normalizing the war-torn land. But he warned that the Gaza Strip is currently in "the most dangerous period".
Mongo Birch said this was the most dangerous time. Once people start to return to the north, that's when most accidents happen because they're not familiar with where unexploded ordnance is, and we're going to be prepared and able to provide the risk education that they need.
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Murphy Speaking on the sidelines of the 27th International Conference of Country Directors and UN Advisers on Mine Action in Geneva, Jean-Pierre Lacroix stressed that the United Nations stands with the Mine Action Service in supporting humanitarian efforts and risk assessments for convoy escorts.
Lacroix believes that a peaceful ceasefire remains a "priority" and that "more humanitarian assistance" should be provided to Gaza as soon as deminers and weapons experts find it safe and feasible.
Threats from Lebanon
Lacroix also stressed the danger of escalation in the region, as fighting continues on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
"When it comes to Lebanon, you know that what needs to be absolutely avoided is further escalation," he said. Frankly, this would be devastating for Lebanon and for the entire region. ”
There have been reports that it will take about 14 years to clean up all the rubble caused by the Gaza conflict, with Birch noting that there are estimated 37 million tons of rubble in total. He stressed that this is more than the ruins of Ukraine. In Ukraine, the front is 600 miles long. Gaza is only 25 miles long. Eighty-seven per cent of Gaza is urbanized, resulting in a very high density of buildings.
Among them, he said, about 800,000 tonnes of asbestos, as well as various other contaminants, he said. But Gaza's problem is that there is too much rubble to spread out. He described the devastation that has been seen as a result of the Israeli bombardment triggered by the Hamas attacks on Israel and rocket attacks. He pointed out that although there were occasional pauses in Israeli bombing, the intensity of the bombing was something he had never experienced. A colleague who had worked in the Ukrainian security forces told him that the bombardment was much worse than what he had experienced in the Donbass.
Rubble recycling prepares for reconstruction
To address the issue of rebuilding Gaza after the cessation of fighting, Birch noted that the recovery of rubble "will play an important role in any reconstruction".
He said there was already talk of a plan for Gaza's future reconstruction. Two weeks ago, UN agencies, including UNDP, UNEP and other partners, held a workshop on "Rubble Cleanup" in Jordan.
Despite the staggering scale of future demining operations, the United Nations Mine Action Service has only $5 million in funding. Over the next 18 months, an additional $40 million will be needed to start demining alone.
Lacroix said 60 million people in 60 countries live in fear of landmines, improvised explosive devices and unexploded ordnance. They "don't know if they're going to spend a day without being hit by a mine or an improvised explosive device, and they don't know if they're going to make it to the next day, or if their children or relatives are going to make it to the next day – it's unacceptable".
Ukraine's global reach
Lacroix said that although the conflict in Ukraine no longer makes frequent headlines more than two years after Russia's full-scale invasion, it will continue to have "dire consequences" for the country and the world in the years to come.
Contaminated farmland once fed 80 million people around the world, most of them from middle- and low-income countries.
The same concern was expressed by Paul Heslop, UNDP's demining action in Ukraine, who said the economic impact of the conflict was a "multi-billion dollar problem" and that the world's most vulnerable people were paying the price.
In addition to the economic impact of the war in Ukraine, Heslop described the severe damage caused by the war: "In Ukraine, due to the nature and intensity of the conflict, we often see people with amputations of both limbs or triplets, or even quadruples, and many of the injured are young people in their twenties and thirties".
Danger zone in Sudan
In the Sudan, where more than a year of fighting between rival armies has brought millions of people to the brink of famine, including in densely populated areas where little awareness of the dangers is known, mine action and the elimination of the risk of unexploded ordnance have become a serious problem.
Mohammad Sediq Rashid, head of the UN Mine Action Service in Sudan, said that it is clear that this is a huge risk for civilians, because the residents of the capital have never experienced such a war in the history of Sudan. Unfortunately, unexploded ordnance accidents are now occurring. There have been some changes in terms of access. Parts of the capital are now being cleared gradually, so civilians do not seem to have the patience to wait any longer for deminers to clear the mine first.
