GAZA — A Palestinian child was killed after an explosive device left behind by Israeli forces detonated in southern Gaza. Israeli forces have continued their attacks on the war-torn enclave, killing three civilians.
Nasser Hospital has announced that a Palestinian child was killed after an explosive device left behind by Israeli forces in the city of Khan Younis detonated on Saturday.
Health officials in Gaza and the UN have repeatedly warned that the unexploded Israeli bombs threaten lives across the Gaza Strip.
According to Munir al-Bursh, “Hospitals receive children every day with horrific injuries, torn bodies, amputated limbs, and faces that have lost their features,” adding the occupation has used “satanic” methods, hiding explosives inside dolls, teddy bears, and small birds that lure children to approach them before detonating.
Israeli restrictions on the entry of heavy machinery are crippling Gaza City’s efforts to clear debris and rebuild critical infrastructure, the city’s mayor said in October following the ceasefire, as tens of thousands of tonnes of unexploded Israeli bombs threaten lives across the Gaza Strip.
Calling them “time bombs”, Mahmoud Basal, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense, said Israel dropped at least 200,000 tonnes of explosives on the territory, with roughly 70,000 tonnes failing to detonate, with children having been particularly affected, often mistaking bombs for toys.
United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) head Luke David Irving said 328 people have already been killed or injured by unexploded ordnance since October 2023, adding between 5-10% of weapons fired into Gaza have failed to detonate, effectively turning the enclave into a minefield.
Tens of thousands of tonnes of bombs, including landmines, mortar rounds, and large bombs capable of flattening concrete buildings, remain buried across Gaza. Basal said clearing the explosives could take years and require millions of dollars.
“We are talking about 71,000 tons of explosives currently present in the Gaza Strip,” Basal noted. “These explosives still exist, and at any moment they could explode,” he said.
“It could happen when children tamper with them, or while civil defense teams work to recover bodies. A collision might happen and could lead to an explosion.”
Israeli Attacks Continue
One Palestinian was also killed by an Israeli drone attack on a group of people in the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis on Sunday morning.
A man was killed in the central Bureij refugee camp in an Israeli artillery shelling, and another was killed in northern Gaza, local sources said Saturday.
On Sunday morning, a woman was injured after an Israeli drone dropped a bomb on a group of people in Bani Suhaila. The woman was checking on her home.
Home demolition operations have also been reported in the eastern part of the Strip over the past few days. — QNN
