UK to send $5 million to help clear Israel's unexploded bombs from Gaza

LONDON — Britain will provide £4 million ($5 million) towards international efforts to clear the estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions in Gaza that are preventing aid from reaching Palestinians, the UK government announced Thursday.

The funding for the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) will help "surge in" experts to clear land mines, cluster bombs and munitions dropped during the war.

Removing the unexploded ordinance to allow more aid into Gaza is "a vital component" of the recently US-brokered cease-fire agreement, the UK foreign ministry said.

"The situation in Gaza is desperate without the vital humanitarian support they need," said Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who is due to visit the Middle East this week. "We must do everything we can to flood Gaza with aid."

The NGO Handicap International warned earlier this month that an estimated 70,000 tonnes of explosives had been dropped on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.

Based on the UK Foreign Ministry's unexploded munitions estimates, it would mean around 10 percent failed to detonate.  

Cooper on Thursday visited HALO, the world's largest humanitarian landmine clearance organisation, at its southwest England site, where she also met representatives from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and UNMAS.

British NGOs HALO and MAG deliver 69 percent of all civilian mine clearance globally, with the help of UNMAS, according to her ministry. 

During the visit, the foreign secretary talked to "British operators who are positioned in the region ready to make Gaza safer," it said.

The new UK funding for UNMAS comes from £116 million of overseas aid announced for the Palestinian Territories this financial year.