The UK will give £4m to help clear landmines from parts of Gaza so more aid can get in, the foreign secretary has announced.
It will be used by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to demine areas, preventing the safe passage of aid.
There are an estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions currently stopping support reaching Palestinians, the Foreign Office said.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who will make a visit to the region at the end of this week, said: “We must do everything we can to flood Gaza with aid.”
The funding will help with the delivery of explosives experts, equipment and education in the region, the Foreign Office said.
Landmines are explosives usually buried just under the ground, or above it, with detonating systems that are triggered by contact
Cooper said: “The situation in Gaza is desperate without the vital humanitarian support they need.”
“Today I am announcing £4m for the UNMAS in Gaza, funding that will help clear the explosives and rubble as part of the UK’s effort to ensure aid can be delivered safely.
“We will not be able to get relief at the scale so desperately needed in Gaza without clearing munitions and making progress on the pathway for lasting peace.”
The Foreign Office said allowing the safe passage of aid was a “vital component” of the US-brokered ceasefire deal, and would help the transition to the next phase of the peace plan.
There has been a significant increase in aid distribution since the ceasefire took effect on 10 October. But Israel has limited the number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza in response to what it says is Hamas’s delay in returning all the bodies of deceased hostages still in Gaza.
Cooper visited the Halo Trust in Wilton, Wiltshire, on Thursday to speak remotely to British deminers working in the region and meet representatives from UNMAS, Halo and MAG (Mines Advisory Group). Halo and MAG – both British organisations – are responsible for clearing 69% of all civilian landmines around the world.
Richard Boulter, UNMAS chief of design, operational support and oversight, said the organisation was “pulling out all the stops” to tackle unexploded ordnance that threatens the lives of Palestinians “striving to find food and return to their homes”.
He added the UK support was an “essential boost to this effort”.
The Foreign Office said Cooper would “continue her drive for aid access, support for the UN and humanitarian NGOs, and action on reconstruction on a visit to the region at the end of the week”.
On 7 October 2023, 251 people were abducted during a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 others dead.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 68,500 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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