• “We do know that we estimated 37 million tonnes of debris, which is approximately 300 kg per square meter,” Lodhammar added
• Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory

GENEVA: There are some 37 million tonnes of debris to clear away in Gaza once the Israeli offensive is over, a senior official with the UN Mine Action Service said on Friday.

And unexploded ordnance buried in the rubble would complicate that work, said UNMAS’ Pehr Lodhammar, who has run mine programs in countries such as Iraq.

It was impossible to say how much of the ammunition fired in Gaza remained live, said Lodhammar.

“We know that typically there is a failure rate of at least 10 percent of land service ammunition,” he told journalists in Geneva.

“We do know that we estimated 37 million tonnes of debris, which is approximately 300 kg per square meter,” he added.

He said that starting from a hypothetical number of 100 trucks would take 14 years to clear away.

Lodhammar was speaking as UNMAS launched its 2023 annual report on Friday.

The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas erupted when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Also on Friday, the head of an aid group warned that an Israeli assault on southern Gaza’s Rafah area would spell disaster for civilians, not only in Gaza but across the Middle East,

Jan Egeland said the region faced a “countdown to an even bigger conflict.”

Egeland, the secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, also said that 1.3 million civilians seeking refuge in Rafah — including his aid group’s staff — were living in “indescribable fear” of an Israeli offensive.

Egeland urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to proceed with the operation.

“Netanyahu, stop this. It is a disaster not only for the Palestinians, it would be a disaster for Israel. You will have a stain on the Israeli conscience and history forever,” he said.

The NRC head spoke to Reuters in Lebanon, where he visited southern villages that he said were caught in a “horrific crossfire” between the Israeli military and Hezbollah.

“I am just scared that we haven’t learned from 2006,” said Egeland, referring to the month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel that was the two foes’ last bloody confrontation, during which he headed the UN’s relief operations.

“We do not need another war in the Middle East. At the moment, I’m feeling like (this is a) countdown to an even bigger conflict,” he said.

AFP – Reuters