The once bustling streets of the Gaza Strip have been
transformed into an eerie landscape of dusty craters, twisted
wires and crumpled buildings. After a year of Israeli
bombardment following hamas' October 7th attacks. The densely populated
enclave with a pre war population of 2.3 million has
been pulverized here in the southern city of Hayes.
More than 19,000 buildings have been damaged. Data from
the UN satellite center UNO shows it is the second
worst affected area. The first is northern Gaza Jihad
Shali who lost a child in March has been displaced
four times since Israel's offensive began in any city in
Gaza. You find rubble in the streets, every
street we enter, we find rubble. Gaza is
not a war. Gaza had an earthquake worse than
war. We've been through a grinder. Gaza has
been through a grinder this year. The destruction we
saw we've never seen in all of history. The
other thing we get the rubble not to build houses
. No but for tombstones and graves from one misery
to another. Hamas attacked Israeli communities on October 7
, killing around 1200 people and taking around 250 hostages
. According to Israeli tallies. Israel says Hamas hides
fighters among the general population in Gaza. The militant
group denies this. Israel says it will strike Hamas
wherever they emerge while trying to reduce harm to civilians
. Palestinian health authorities say more than 41,700 people have
been killed since the start of Israel's military campaign.
Uno sat shows two thirds of Gaza's pre-war structures have
been damaged as Israel tries to eliminate Hamas, that's
a total of 163,778 structures. Each block in this
visualization represents a destroyed or damaged building if placed altogether
. It would look something like this more than three
times as many buildings as those in the New York
City borough of Manhattan. And the UN estimates that
more than 42 million tons of debris are piled up
in the strip. That's over 14 times the rubble
accumulated in all the conflicts in Gaza since 2008 and
enough to fill the great pyramid of Giza 11 times
as you can imagine. I mean, the challenges
are huge. Alessandro Mra is from the United Nations
Development Program, part of a group working with local
authorities on a pilot project to clear debris. So
this will require proper planning. A very detailed planning
considering all the not only the volume but all the
risks, it is going to be a massive operation
. But at the same time, it's important that
we start now because the removal is a life saving
activity. At this point. The UN estimates that
it would take 14 years and at least$1.2 billion
to safely dispose of the rubble if the war stopped
now. But the scale of destruction is only one
of the challenges, conflict, debris differs from normal
controlled construction and demolition waste as it contains unrecovered bodies
. In this case, as many as 10,000 according
to the Palestinian Health Ministry and unexploded bombs and the
dust produced can be contaminated with heavy metals from munitions
and household or industrial chemicals. All pose huge health
and safety risks. I can give you 100% assurance
that people are being exposed to massive amounts of pollutants
. Metal contamination in water in air in food.
Sahani is an environmental toxicologist who has worked extensively in
Iraq. Those kinds of exposures will end up causing
all kinds of DNA damage in mother's reproductive cells in
father's reproductive cells. And that would culminate in a
horrific rise in a birth defect in Children in Gaza
. The contents of busted sewage pipes underneath the debris
can contaminate water supplies and provide an environment for disease
, transmitting insects or a home for snakes and scorpions
. The rubble is also a good environment for sand
flies which can spread to skin infections. The United
Nations Environment Program or UN ep estimates that 2.3 million
tons of the debris generated in this conflict could be
contaminated with asbestos. It is mainly found in the
older buildings and structures of Gaza's eight crowded refugee camps
, some of which have been hit with prolonged exposure
. The asbestos fibers are inhaled and over time can
cause diseases including lung, larynx, and ovarian cancers
and fibrosis of the lungs. According to the World
Health Organization, experts say asbestos related diseases usually take
10 to 50 years to emerge. The path ahead
is also littered with practical difficulties. Un experts say
Gaza lacks the 1300 acres of land needed to store
all the rubble and landfills are now in an Israeli
military zone. Israel's military unit. Koga says they
were in a restricted area but access would be granted
. Government officials report fuel and machinery shortages as Israeli
restrictions slow clear up efforts. Israel did not specifically
comment on these allegations. The UN says it will
need owners permission to remove rubble but the scale of
the destruction has blurred property boundaries and some property records
have been lost in the war. Asked about the
debris. Koga said it aims to improve waste handling
and will work with the United Nations to expand efforts
. Several donors have expressed interest in rebuilding Gaza but
a UN official who asked to remain anonymous told Reuters
that everyone is concerned whether to invest if there is
no political solution in place. Oh