A coming together of the main stakeholders in these future operations was held two weeks ago in Amman, under the leadership of the United Nations Development Programme.
The UNDP is piloting the clearance plan and participants went through the likely means and methods required, for when the time eventually comes. “Because the level of rubble is so unprecedented, it’s going to take new thinking on how we proceed with the clearance” said Birch.
UNMAS says that 65pc of the buildings decimated in Gaza were residential, and it would take 100 trucks 14 years to clear the rubble so far. Birch stated clearance operations are still in the planning phase and require a significant amount of heavy installations.
“The methodology on how we’re going to do that, it’s still something that’s being discussed because of the sheer scale” he said.
Northern Gaza fears
A precise assessment for Gaza remains unachievable due to the violence from ongoing fighting, bombings and difficulties of access.
“Until we’ve been able to get access to the north and can conduct an assessment we’re not certain about the level of contamination” said Birch. “Anecdotal stories suggest that it’s exceptionally heavy in northern Gaza.
Our teams have encountered unexploded ordnance on their missions to the north, and we believe that it will be a sizeable huge issue going forward.
Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2024
