It could take 14 years to clear Gaza of waste, a UN official says

Israel's land and air struggle against Hamas ʹ the group declared terrorist organisations by the United States, and the European Union has ruined most of its small coastal territory of 2.3 million people, leaving most of its civilians homeless, hungry, and sickly.

Peth Lodhammar, senior UN antimine action official (UNMAS), said in Geneva on Friday that the war has filled 37 billion tonnes of waste with overcrowded Palestinian territory.

He said that although it is not possible to know the exact number of unbroken vehicles in Gaza, it is projected that it could take 14 years under the conditions set for removing waste, including the ruins of ruined buildings.

“We know that there is a 10 per cent degree of failure of land ammunition being fired and that it is not erupting”, he said.

“We are talking about 14 years of working with 100 tractors”, he added.

Israel's Gaza War against Hamas began after its members killed about 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and kidnapped some 250 others during that attack in southern Israel.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, of whom two-thirds of children and women, as a result of the Israeli war in Gaza since then, according to Palestinian health officials. /rel/