It could take up to 14 years to clear the vast amount of rubble, including unexploded ordnance, from Israel’s devastating seven-month war in the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip. Pehar Lodhammar, a senior official at the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), made the prediction on Friday.

Israel’s military campaign against Gaza’s ruling Islamist group Hamas has turned the narrow coastal enclave of 2.3 million people into a desert. Most of the civilians there are currently homeless, hungry and at risk of disease.

At a briefing in Geneva, Pehr Lodhammar said about 3.7 million tons of war debris were left in the densely populated area.

He said it was almost impossible to determine the exact number of unexploded ordnance found in Gaza. Even so, it is estimated that it may take up to 14 years to clean up the entire rubble, including the remains of the destroyed buildings, under certain conditions.

This UN official said, “We know that usually at least 10 percent of the munitions fired by ground forces remain unexploded and damaged.” We are talking about 14 years of cleanup operations using 100 trucks.”

Hundreds of fighters from Hamas, the ruling group in the Gaza Strip, entered northern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages in Gaza. Hamas is believed to still be holding 129 hostages in Gaza.

The Israeli Defense Forces launched a war in Gaza on October 7 in response to Hamas attacks. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the war; At least two-thirds of them are women and children.