[News] Gaza Ceasefire Back on Track - Explosive Remnants in Gaza Cause Dozens of Casualties

Thu Feb 13 10:46:51 EST 2025

Up to 10% of munitions fired by Israel into Gaza have failed to 
detonate, leaving behind deadly hazards for years to come
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  Explosive Remnants in Gaza Cause Dozens of Casualties
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      Up to 10% of munitions fired by Israel into Gaza have failed to
      detonate, leaving behind deadly hazards for years to come

Abubaker Abed <https://substack.com/@abubakerabedw>

Feb 13, 2025

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/Phase 1 of the Gaza “ceasefire” appears to be back on track after the 
deal was thrown into disarray this week by Israel’s continued violations 
of the agreement. On Thursday, Hamas said in a statement that it will 
release the three Israeli captives as planned on Saturday after it 
received assurances from Qatari and Egyptian mediators that Israel would 
stop blocking the entry of aid and other goods as stipulated in the 
agreement. Earlier this week, on Monday, Hamas had announced it would 
indefinitely postpone the next scheduled batch of releases, accusing 
Israel of multiple violations of the deal—including killing civilians, 
repeated ground and air incursions, and blocking the entry of 
humanitarian aid and essential supplies. Israel responded by threatening 
a full resumption of the war, prompting critical negotiations to try and 
salvage the ceasefire./

/In a statement on Thursday, Hamas said, “the discussions were 
characterized by a positive spirit, and the mediating brothers in Egypt 
and Qatar confirmed that they would follow up on all of this to remove 
obstacles and close gaps. Accordingly, Hamas confirms its continued 
position to implement the agreement in accordance with what was signed, 
including the exchange of prisoners according to the specified timetable.”/

/There has been no confirmation from Israeli officials so far. /

/Nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire 
came into effect on January 19. The ministry of health reported today 
that three Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours and an 
additional 14 bodies retrieved from under the rubble. /

/Along with the thousands of bodies buried in the ruins, tens of 
thousands of unexploded bombs fired by Israel are also scattered across 
Gaza. Gaza-based journalist Abubaker Abed filed this story about 
unexploded munitions, which pose a deadly risk for years to come./

/We are committed to making our journalism free to the public, but paid 
subscriptions and donations from our readers make that possible. Please 
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unexploded munition inside a house in Rafah, southern Gaza. (Photo by 
Anas Zeyad Fteha/Anadolu via Getty Images)

On January 19, the day the “ceasefire” in Gaza went into effect, 
29-year-old Yousef Kassab couldn’t wait to return to his neighborhood of 
Tel al-Sultan in central Rafah to check on his home. He left ahead of 
his father along with his nephew and neighbor. But when he arrived, he 
couldn’t find his house—the Israeli military had destroyed the building 
and bulldozed the ground where it once stood.

His neighbor’s home nearby was battered, yet somehow still standing, so 
the three of them went inside to take a break and inspect the damage, 
Kassab’s father told Drop Site News. “As they were about to leave, 
Yousef was near the kitchen window and saw a strange object that blew up 
in his face,” Kassab’s 53-year-old father said. “This is what his 
neighbor and nephew told me after they were severely wounded by the 
explosion.”

Mohammed arrived just minutes after the explosion to find his son dead 
on the ground. “I found him with half a head and several gashes in his 
body. The two others had serious shrapnel wounds. There was blood 
splattered all over the floor,” Mohammed said. “I took Yousef and buried 
him in a graveyard in Khan Younis. I couldn’t take the loss since I lost 
many of my relatives and he was my only son, he was my backbone, he was 
everything in my life.”

Yousef, a father of three, was killed by a munition fired into Gaza that 
had failed to detonate, until he came upon it in his neighbor’s house. 
Dr. Zaher al-Wahaidi, the director of the Information Center at Gaza’s 
Ministry of Health, told Drop Site that Yousef was one of at least two 
people killed by unexploded ordnances in Gaza since the ceasefire began, 
with at least 40 others wounded.

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Yousef Kassab in an undated photo. Credit: Mohammed Kassab

The Israeli military has fired tens of thousands of munitions into Gaza 
since the war began on October 7, 2023—most of them U.S.-made—with as 
many as 30,000 bombs dropped in the first seven weeks alone. The United 
Nations Mine Action Service (UMAS), which has been operating in Gaza 
since 2009 and remained there throughout the past 15 months, has warned 
that between 5 to 10 percent of weapons fired into Gaza have failed to 
detonate, leaving behind deadly hazards for years to come. Since October 
2023, at least 92 people have been killed or injured by explosive 
ordnance, UMAS chief Luke Irving told reporters in a live streamed press 
briefing from Gaza on January 29. He added that informal reports 
suggested there have been 24 victims of unexploded ordnance since the 
ceasefire began.

“Since the ceasefire came into effect, people have started returning to 
their homes and humanitarian personnel can reach areas which have 
previously been inaccessible,” Irving said. “We have already received 
informal reports of civilians coming across explosive ordnance in their 
homes, and humanitarian convoys are finding items more and more as we 
reach new areas which we previously could not get to. These include 
large aircraft bombs, mortars, anti-tank weapons, rockets and rifle 
grenades.”

Most of the victims of unexploded ordnances since January 19 have been 
in southern Gaza, according to al-Wahadi, who pointed out that the 
destruction in the north was more severe, with most of the buildings 
completely destroyed and reduced to piles of rubble. While the damage 
was catastrophic in the south as well, there are more buildings standing 
for people to seek shelter in or to try and dig out the bodies of their 
relatives and friends where they can come into contact with an exposed 
munition.

“Around 10 days ago, 12 people were maimed by a suspicious object in 
Khan Younis,” al-Waidi said. “These strange objects or not that visible, 
or sometimes that can look like normal things. That’s why deaths and 
injuries occur despite the efforts from UNMAS and local health 
organizations to prevent such incidents.”

Despite the enormous scale of the problem, with thousands of unexploded 
munitions scattered across Gaza, there are currently only five UMAS 
personnel operating in the enclave. Israel has also blocked the entry of 
heavy machinery and bulldozers into Gaza for debris removal in violation 
of the ceasefire agreement, making it harder for the long task of 
clearing the rubble to even begin.

“I’ll give some context,” Irving said. “If you imagine Europe post World 
War II—they still find items today, so these things never quite go away.”

Rola Sababah, a 25-year-old displaced resident of the Saudi neighborhood 
in western Rafah, returned to her home after the ceasefire to find only 
debris. She said she saw unexploded munitions around her home and in the 
streets.

“Explosives and mines were everywhere,” Sababah told Drop Site. “It was 
truly horrifying to witness this scene because our lives were in peril 
every moment. We were walking very carefully over Israeli tank tracks to 
avoid harm. Mines were apparent in certain areas and were marked with 
yellow tape and signs. The agricultural land was also full of mines, so 
it was impossible to walk there. Each step was frightening as it could 
have been our last.”

“These unexploded bombs are also under the rubble of people’s homes,” 
she added. “We saw many casualties the last few days as people were 
clearing up the rubble and looking for their loved ones.”

Since the ceasefire began, Israel has violated the agreement to such a 
degree—killing civilians, blocking the entry of essential supplies, 
including heavy machinery, fuel and humanitarian aid—that it prompted 
Hamas to announce on Monday it was indefinitely postponing the next 
planned release of three Israeli captives, scheduled for Saturday. 
Israel responded by threatening a full resumption of the war. Critical 
negotiations are currently underway to try and salvage the ceasefire.

“We don’t have the basic vehicles, like bulldozers, to remove the 
debris,” Raed Al-Dahshan, the director of Civil Defense in Gaza, told 
Drop Site. The Civil Defense has issued repeated public warnings that 
large numbers of unexploded ordnance remain scattered in the streets 
inside destroyed or damaged buildings. “We call on all organizations to 
supply us with tools and heavy vehicles to help retrieve bodies and 
avoid any casualties because of Israel’s remaining explosives. As long 
as we don’t have the equipment, we are still years ahead to clear up the 
rubble and recover the thousands of bodies still missing.”

Among the most common victims of unexploded ordnance are children, as 
they are often unaware of the danger.

“Children, who play outside or have fun in the streets, always pick up 
these unknown objects and have amputations and life-changing injuries as 
a result,” said Dr. Alliya Qazi, an American trauma surgeon who has 
volunteered in Gaza twice on medical missions. “Clearing up mines and 
unexploded ordnances normally takes years. I am very concerned that this 
will be a problem and will cause many injuries because we have seen 
similar scenarios in the past. ”

“There has to be a mass education campaign to warn people against this, 
to not pick up items from the roads” Qazi told Drop Site. “Even in 
places that have coordinated campaigns, these objects can be hidden and 
unknown, amounting to many more casualties.”

<https://substack.com/profile/145790168-abubaker-abed>

A guest post by
Abubaker Abed 
<https://substack.com/@abubakerabedw?utm_campaign=guest_post_bio&utm_medium=email> 

Abubaker Abed is an accidental war correspondent from Deir al-Balah in 
Gaza. He was thrown into an active warzone to report on the genocide. 
He's a football journalist and commentator.

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