Unexploded ordnance in Gaza wounds children despite ceasefire
Demining officials say unexploded ordnance is scattered underneath 60 million tonnes of debris across Gaza, which must be cleared for efforts to continue
The Shorbasi family was sitting in their severely damaged house in Gaza City, enjoying the relative calm of the ceasefire. Then they heard an explosion and rushed outside to find their 6-year-old twins bleeding on the ground.
The boy, Yahya, and his sister, Nabila, had discovered a round object while playing. One touch, and it went off.
“It was like a toy,” their grandfather, Tawfiq Shorbasi, said of the unexploded ordnance, after the children were rushed to Shifa hospital on Friday. “It was extremely difficult.”
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are seizing the chance to return to what’s left of their homes under the ceasefire that began on October 10. But the dangers are far from over as people, including children, sift through the rubble for what remains of their belongings and for bodies unreachable until now.
Shorbasi said the family had returned home after the ceasefire took hold. Gaza City had been the focus of the final Israeli military offensive before the deal was reached between Israel and Hamas.
“We’ve just returned last week,” the grandfather said at Shifa hospital, fighting back tears. “Their lives have been ruined forever.”