Moein al-Hattu’s home has been ripped apart, its cinder block walls blown out into the street and a dusty grey bomb hangs menacingly from a damaged pillar, its tip resting on a crushed chest of drawers.
Weighing more than a tonne, the munition dropped during an Israeli air strike on Gaza City has not exploded — yet.
“I’m living in terror and unable to remove it,” al-Hattu told AFP, as children wandering through the rubble paused to marvel at the threatening intrusion.
The grey-bearded Palestinian wants to hang tarpaulins from the shell of his bombed-out home and move back in, but has been unable to find anyone in Gaza with the skills or equipment to remove the giant bomb.
“The relevant authorities, whether the civil defence or the municipality, say they can’t remove it. Who can I go to and complain to?” he demanded.
“If it had exploded, it would have caused massive destruction and destroyed at least five to six houses.”
After two years of Israeli war, the ruined cities of Gaza, a densely packed territory home to more than two million Palestinians, are littered with military debris, including unexploded, still-deadly munitions.
In the streets of Gaza City, children play with rocket parts and the tail fins of mortar shells, oblivious to or unbothered by the danger.
According to a study by charity Handicap International, Israel has dropped around 70,000 tonnes of explosives on targets in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Cardboard for cooking
In January this year, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) warned that between five and 10 percent of these bombs did not explode — leaving their deadly payloads to be discovered by frightened residents.