20,000 Bombs Wait To Explode In Gaza – OpEd
Around 20,000 bombs lie dormant among the mass wreckage and debris of Gaza according to the Strip’s Government Media Office. These are part of the munitions the Israeli army dropped across the enclave since 7th October, 2023.
The munitions include ariel bombs, artillery shells, missiles, rockets and grandes. They were fired by the Israeli war machine throughout the 365-kilometer Gaza Strip but failed to explode at the time. However, they remain ticking time bombs.
An in-depth analysis on Al Jazeera suggests that the 20,000 explosives mean that every square kilometer in Gaza contains 58 of these munitions. These potential explosives are ready to go off anytime if tampered with and or even slightly touched.
Worrying is the fact that today, in post-war Gaza where the clearing of the mass mounts of rubble has started, any move could trigger these munitions. Since Israel’s war started up to 100,000 tons of explosives were mercilessly dumped onto the Gaza Strip. These bombs created between 55,000 and 70,000 tons of debris according to UN figures.
Military experts also say that anything between five and 20 percent of these dropped ordinances don’t usually explode but remain active in the womb of the Mother Earth of Gaza.
According to the United Nations the 20,000 figure remains exceptionally high compared to other past and present war zones in the world. This is because of the tremendous firepower from planes, tanks and offshore ships Israel has unleashed on the territory from the end of 2023, in 2024 and through out 2025 till 9th October when a ceasefire deal was reached.
The problem has become especially serious now and at today’s fragile ceasefire in the Strip reached under the auspices of US president Donald Trump. Many of the explosives are feared to be between the thousands of Palestinian bodies absent and feared to be buried deep underground because of the collapsed buildings made so by Israeli mass bombs and explosives.
Therefore today digging them up as well as the remaining 18 or so Israeli bodies out of an original total of 28 is becoming a very difficult exercise. Thus, the search teams, and whose work is particularly sensitive, are moving slowly starting with first surveying the different areas to make sure there are no nearby unexploded munition to begin the digging up operations to excavate the bodies. With debris everywhere, this makes the search hazardous and dangerous, with teams carefully navigating the area, fearing they could accidentally trigger an explosion or a series of them.
The search teams work according to a distinct methodology of delicate action as some of these unexploded bombs weigh 2000 bombs which may cause more widespread havoc and destruction. This type of work in Gaza has today become extremely complicated with the search teams working to search and clear one kilo of space at a time, meaning much more teams are required.
Disposal explosive experts have to be a part of the research teams looking for the bodies who went down as Israeli bombs destroyed buildings that at times, reached 9, 10, 13 stories or more. The problem here, as well, is that experts have become scarce and the enclave is in deep need for technical professionals from outside Gaza. This is because Israel has killed over 67,000 people over the past two years and injured over 170,000.
Along with the removal of the unexploded bombs and debris, israel has so far refused to let in equipment in the besieged enclave to make the work of the research teams easier and enable them to get to the munition at a safer pace and without danger. These teams have to work with the equipment they have available – many of which is outdated and need spare parts and which Israel will not allow through because of its siege of Gaza it imposed since 2007.
That means they continue to work in a dangerous environment with possibility of falling debris becoming very real, not to say anything of the effect this would have on the unexploded bombs and other munitions.
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