Overview
- The Foreign Office says the funding targets removal of an estimated 7,500 tonnes of unexploded munitions that are preventing safe delivery of aid.
- Support to UNMAS will deploy additional explosive-ordnance experts, equipment and risk education and expand coordination of clearance operations across Gaza.
- Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper visited HALO in Wilton and is traveling to the region this week to press for wider aid access and operational conditions for relief groups.
- UNMAS official Richard Boulter said the agency is accelerating its response and called the UK contribution an essential boost to efforts to mitigate the threat to civilians and aid workers.
- The UK highlights the roles of British NGOs HALO and MAG, which it says deliver 69% of civilian mine clearance globally, while Handicap International’s 70,000-tonne estimate of explosives used underscores that contamination far exceeds the initial clearance target.