At least 3,000 of the 45,000 Israeli bombs that have been launched against the Gaza Strip between October 7 and mid-January, according to Handicap International’s estimates, have not exploded, an official of the NGO specializing in mine action warned today.

“Among the 45,000 bombs, 3,000 of them have not exploded and they are the ones that will cause, at the time of returns, at the time when humanitarian aid should be distributed, an additional risk, especially for civilians,” he told Radio France internationale Jean-Pierre Delomiere.

These figures are an estimate by the Mine Action Area of ​​responsibility – a working group made up of NGOs active in the area, including Handicap International – for the period between October 7 and mid-January, when the bombing continue in the Gaza Strip.

THE Jean-Pierre Delomiere, deputy director for international operations at Handicap International, spent several days in Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them displaced, have taken refuge.

He believes that only a ceasefire could provide further “visibility” to Handicap International, in order to “start mine clearance operations without fear and to rehabilitate the land from explosive remnants of war”.

Since the beginning of March, Handicap International sent two experts for 15 days in order to begin assessing demining needs in the Gaza Strip.

In addition to access for the civilian population, this assessment will “also allow other humanitarian actors to be able to deploy in the areas in the north (…) that remain cut off today from this humanitarian aid,” Delomierre continued.