UN: Gaza Filled with More Debris, Rubble Than Ukraine

Nearly seven months into the war, UNMAS estimates the amount of debris in the Gaza Strip at 37 million tonnes in mid-April, or 300 kilogrammes per square metre (60 pounds per square foot).

“Gaza has more rubble than Ukraine, and to put that in perspective, the Ukrainian front line is 600 miles [nearly 1,000km] long, and Gaza is 25 miles [40km] long,” said Mungo Birch, head of the UNMAS programme in the Palestinian territories.

But the volume of rubble is not the only problem, UNMAS added.

“This rubble is likely heavily contaminated with UXO [unexploded ordnance], but its clearance will be further complicated by other hazards in the rubble,” Birch told journalists in Geneva.

“There’s estimated to be over 800,000 tonnes of asbestos, for instance, alone in the Gaza rubble,” he continued. 

The cancer-causing mineral used in construction requires special precautions when handling.

It is generally estimated that 10 to 15 percent of the munitions fired do not explode on impact and therefore represent a lasting danger for civilian populations.

On Friday, a United Nations official said the vast amount of rubble including unexploded ordnance left by Israel's devastating war in the Gaza Strip could take about 14 years to remove.

Pehr Lodhammar, senior officer at the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), told a briefing in Geneva that the war had left an estimated 37 million tons of debris in the widely urbanised, densely populated territory.

He added that although it was impossible to determine the exact number of unexploded ordnance found in Gaza, it was projected that it could take 14 years under certain conditions to clear debris, including rubble from destroyed buildings.

Israel's military campaign against Gaza has reduced much of the narrow, coastal territory of 2.3 million people to a wasteland with most civilians homeless, hungry and at risk of disease.

Israel launched the hostilities on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise military operation into the occupied territories.

The regime has also been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle.

Israel has killed almost 34,600 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. At least 77,700 Palestinians have also been injured.