Gaza Strip
The intense conflict in the Gaza Strip since Israel's response to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 has left large areas of the territory contaminated with unexploded bombs, shells, missiles, improvised explosives and other ordnance fired by both sides. Their presence endangers local people seeking safe shelter, humanitarian aid and medical treatment.
The threat of explosive ordnance obstructs life-saving aid, blocks the return of displaced families and will slow every strand of recovery: healthcare, education, utilities, shelter and rubble management. The swift disposal of unexploded ordnance will be vital to the reconstruction of Gaza.
The size of the task is reflected in the levels of destruction. A damage assessment by the UN Satellite Centre in summer 2025 found that 78% of total structures in the Gaza Strip have been completely destroyed or partially damaged. In addition 77% of roads have been damaged.
In past conflicts, HALO bomb disposal experts have seen a large proportion of weapons fail to detonate as intended. In particular, urban warfare leaves a lethal legacy of rubble contaminated with bombs and routes strewn with explosive hazards that hamper the delivery of aid. The UN's Mine Action Service estimated in early 2025 that there could be 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions in Gaza – a figure that will have grown as the conflict has continued.
A HALO team surveys a UN school used to shelter civilians
Our work
During the ceasefire in early 2025, HALO bomb disposal experts conducted explosive hazard assessments to ensure the safety of people taking shelter in partially-damaged buildings and of routes for humanitarian aid.
We have also prepared a comprehensive response to the widespread explosives contamination of the strip and HALO is ready to support the reconstruction of Gaza with a large-scale response when this is possible.
HALO also works with Gazan staff and partner organisations to develop risk education materials in the streets that have been the scenes of battles and airstrikes.
Despite the danger of road movement and lack of fuel, HALO's Palestinian NGO partner provides pop-up risk education sessions in resettlement camps and other concentrations of displaced families.
"We conduct explosive hazard assessments in key facilities such as schools, where five or six families shelter in what remains of a classroom – often next to multiple floors of pancaked rubble. The debris across Gaza will contain huge amounts of explosives, and will need to be made safe as an urgent priority."
HALO's bomb disposal experts conduct explosive hazard assessment visits to locations – often former UN schools – that have been turned into resettlement camps for those whose homes have been destroyed. HALO works in partnership with the UN's Mine Action Service to coordinate these visits with the overall humanitarian response to the Gaza conflict.
As the ceasefire stabilises the situation on the ground, HALO will provide explosive hazard assessments of some of the more than 55 million tonnes of rubble estimated to litter Gaza. In the first instance HALO will do this work on behalf of the UN Development Programme, which is spearheading rubble removal projects, but is likely to provide this explosives expertise to multiple agencies.
Mortar in the grounds of a school in Khan Younis
HALO has developed techniques to safely deal with this kind of dangerous debris in recent urban battlefields such as Falluja in Iraq, Sirte in Libya and Ta’iz in Yemen. It is a specialism that dates back to our clearance of West Kabul in the mid-1990s.
HALO has conducted mine-clearance operations in the West Bank since 2013. In Gaza HALO seeks to develop a comprehensive and integrated mine action response that will enable humanitarian access and reconstruction at scale, while building a sustainable, Palestinian-owned capacity.
