Video: Unexploded ordnance in Gaza – UNMAS

03 November 2025

The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has warned that unexploded ordnance continues to pose a serious threat in the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire, with injuries reported among residents returning to devastated areas.

Unexploded shells and missiles are scattered across the Al-Rimal neighbourhood and other parts of Gaza City, visible among the rubble and along roadsides months after the war, exposing civilians to the risk of detonation as they attempt to return to their homes or search for basic necessities.

Displaced families say they have been forced to set up tents near areas suspected of containing ordnance due to the lack of safe shelter options. In one incident, the Anqar family, displaced from Al-Shuja’iyya, reported that an explosive device detonated as children were collecting firewood for cooking in western Gaza.

The mother of Jude Al-Anqar, who was injured in the blast, said the area is “full of rubble and we don’t know what is hidden inside.” His cousin, Yazan Al-Anqar, said he had been gathering wood when “an object covered in debris exploded.”

The United Nations says incidents linked to remnants of war are recorded weekly in the enclave, warning that clearing ordnance from beneath the rubble will be “a long and complex process.” Aid agencies add that the dangers are hindering the return of residents and slowing reconstruction efforts, with families resorting to primitive methods of cooking in unsafe areas.

UNMAS called for urgent funding to support explosive-removal operations and to provide safer shelter, stressing that clearing residential areas is essential for civilians to return and for schools and critical facilities to reopen.