MSF: Removing unexploded ordnance in Gaza will take years

Removing unexploded ordnance scattered among the rubble of homes in Gaza will take years and will hinder the rebuilding process, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said yesterday.

“People are trying to rebuild from the rubble. Rafah is destroyed, with homes, shops, streets and healthcare facilities in ruins and electricity and water systems damaged. The area is also unsafe due to scattered unexploded artillery in the remnants of buildings, which will take years to clean,” said Pascale Coissard, who supports MSF’s emergency coordinator.

“Health services, including the rest of humanitarian aid, and rebuilding of the city is needed for life to be able to come back to Rafah, but it’s still too dangerous for people to return in most areas.”

She stressed that although the sound of bombs cannot be heard anymore, there are still dangers.

Nadia Abo Mallouh, who supports MSF medical coordinator that used to work in Emirati Hospital, said: “It’s extremely difficult to come back to the same place that used to be full of life.”

“We couldn’t even recognise the streets where the Emirati Hospital was. It’s sad seeing the hospital that used to bring life to earth totally empty, no signs of life, everything is destroyed,” she added.

The ceasefire in the Gaza Strip came into effect on 19 January, suspending Israel’s genocidal war in the besieged enclave which killed and wounded 159,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, in addition to more than 11,000 still missing under the rubble of their homes.

Thousands of unexploded Israeli munitions remain in Gaza: Media