occupied Palestinian territory

Since 2009, UNMAS has been providing humanitarian mine action in the Gaza Strip to mitigate the threat of explosive ordnance to civilians' lives and enable the safe delivery of humanitarian activities. UNMAS provides explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) response at UN and humanitarian partner projects sites, delivers explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) to the civilian community including humanitarian workers, and co-coordinates the Mine Action Area of Responsibility (MA AoR) under the Protection Cluster. In the West Bank, UNMAS supported the establishment of the Palestine Mine Action Center (PMAC) in 2012. Since then, UNMAS has been providing capacity building and technical assistance to the PMAC towards meeting its obligations under the relevant international treaties. UNMAS provides training to the PMAC personnel in the delivery of EORE, information management (IM), coordination and reporting, gender responsive programming. UNMAS carries out capacity gap assessments to identify the changing needs and plan appropriate support. 

UNMAS Palestine continues to implement its work in alignment with the provisions of UN Security Council resolutions 2712 (2023) and 2728 (2024) and UN General Assembly resolutions A/RES/ES-10/21 (2023) and A/RES/ES-10/22 (2023) on the protection of civilians and humanitarian personnel, and the provision of humanitarian activities in the current conflict. It also aligns with the Humanitarian Response Plan for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (HRP oPt) 2023, the Flash Appeal for the Occupied Palestinian Territory 2023, the renewed Flash Appeal for April - December 2024 and the UNMAS Palestine Programme Strategy (PS). Once development efforts can re-start, this programme will again contribute to the achievement of SDG 16 "Peace Justice and Strong Institutions", target "Significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere", and play an essential function to enable other humanitarian actors to achieve other SDG goals, such as SDG 2 "Zero Hunger", SDG 3 "Good Health and Well-being", SDG 4 "Quality Education", SDG 5 "Gender Equality", SDG 6 "Clean Water and Sanitation" and SDG 9 "Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure" by minimizing the substantial explosive threats posed to the UN and humanitarian actors in Gaza.  

Lastly, and while the UNMAS Palestine Programme addresses the threat of explosive remnants of war (ERW), it is aligned with the Oslo Action Plan by the States Parties of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in the sense that EORE and the collection of victim data are part of best practice and are as important in providing effective responses to the threat of ERW as they are to the threat of anti-personnel mines.  

UNMAS has long been supporting mine action activities in Palestine, both in Gaza and in the West Bank. However, since the resumption of hostilities on 7 October 2023, UNMAS operations have considerably evolved to adapt to the emerging needs of local populations and humanitarian partners amidst the ongoing conflict. The UNMAS Palestine programme is in a phase of transformation to meet the needs of an unprecedented situation.

The UNMAS Palestine programme has strengthened its resources and adapted to the present situation, focusing its efforts in Gaza through specific pillars and activities. In the West Bank, it continues supporting explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) and the Palestinian Mine Action Center (PMAC) capacity building. In Gaza, humanitarian mine action is integrated with aid delivery to address the high threats faced by the population and humanitarian actors. UNMAS work serves as an integral enabler of humanitarian activity. It will be an essential prerequisite for the planning process and preparation for the implementation of the post-ceasefire early recovery efforts such as the debris management, rubble removal and reconstruction activities. 

Pillar One: Coordination

• Serving as the coordinating body for Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA), prioritizing and tasking mine action operations
• Co-chairing the Mine Action Area of Responsibility under the Protection Cluster
• Providing IM to the sector and cross sectoral information sharing

Pillar Two: Explosive Hazard Response  

• Provision of Explosive Hazard Assessments and Post Blast Assessments at humanitarian sites and along routes for humanitarian convoys
• Marking of explosive hazards
• Eventual survey and clearance (dependent upon equipment & access)

Pillar Three: Risk Education  

• Provision of Emergency Risk Education sessions, Training of Trainer`s (ToT) for Risk Education, and Explosive Hazard Awareness Training to humanitarian workers via implementing partners, risk education for local populations, integrated within other humanitarian responses
• Provision Hazardous Environment Training (HET) to Security Officers of UN and INGOs

1. Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) for the population: UNMAS Palestine delivers lifesaving EORE messages for the population across the Gaza Strip, which is at heightened risk of encountering and being injured by explosive remnants of war (ERW). The EORE sessions will be delivered to civilians via two modalities: 1) "community sessions" in community-based centres across Gaza; 2) "street visits" to populations that are especially at risk, such as returning internally displaced persons (IDPs), scrap metal collectors and rubble removal workers. EORE messages will be delivered to civilians primarily through distribution of posters, leaflets and stickers.  

2. Explosive Ordnance Awareness (EOA) and EORE Training of Trainers (ToT) for UN and humanitarian partners: UNMAS conducts short awareness raising sessions for the non-security staff of UN and humanitarian partners to ensure safe delivery of humanitarian responses. In addition, UNMAS Palestine conducts Training of Trainers (ToT) sessions on EORE for UN and humanitarian partners delivering emergency humanitarian assistance in Gaza, who will disseminate safety messages in the shelters and distribution points.  

3. Hazardous Environment Training (HET): UNMAS conducts Hazardous Environment Training (HET) for UN Security Officers and humanitarian workers who will travel on convoys to deliver humanitarian activities across the Gaza Strip. Given the current context in Gaza, the training focuses on ensuring the security of humanitarian convoys in lower-risk areas that have previously been assessed by the UNMAS EOD team, during and after the ongoing conflict. Participants will identify potential risks when traveling and apply safety precautions if ERW is encountered on a route. Through the trained personnel, information on potential ERW contamination is shared with UNMAS to contribute to the mapping of the overall contamination and inform the planning for future convoys. The training includes an individual first aid kit (IFAK) component to enable participants to manage convoy-related injuries until evacuation to the nearest safe medical facility is possible.  

Pillar Four: Capacity Enhancement  

• Serving as advisory partners to national authorities in West Bank
• Providing financial and technical support to the PMAC and the PA EOD Police in the West Bank
• Pre-positioning to respond to capacity enhancement needs in Gaza when a new local authority is established

UNMAS as a Coordinating Body in Gaza

UNMAS is designated by the United Nations Resident Coordinator (UNRC) to lead the coordination of mine action response in the Gaza Strip. UNMAS co-chairs the Mine Action Area of Responsibility (MA AoR) under the Protection Cluster (PC) with the humanitarian organization (HI). The MA AoR ensures that all humanitarian actors harmonize and coordinate humanitarian mine action responses. The MA AoR runs an information-sharing dashboard and request-for-support platform that all UN, humanitarian actors and civil entities can access to view updated mine action information and to place requests for support. UNMAS adopts prioritization criteria for EOD tasks guided by humanitarian priorities and contextual evolution. MA AoR also represents the mine action actors on different fronts, including donor forums, international and national inter-cluster coordination groups meetings, etc., where, inter alia, advocates for mine action needs in the short and long term.

To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the mine action response, the MA AoR created three sub technical working groups (TWGs) to support the specialized projects in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), EORE and Information Management.

Unique Context for EO Response

Right now, all humanitarian organizations are operating in a very challenging context. As conflict is ongoing, the kinetic environment continues to be extremely dangerous for humanitarian actors who serve the population in need. UNMAS is a key risk mitigation actor within this environment, directly serving humanitarian actors to assess explosive hazard threats in areas where they plan to provide humanitarian assistance.

With Gaza being 87% urbanized and experiencing immense levels of debris and rubble accumulation (almost 42 million tons estimated as of  July 2024), access to those in need is an enormous challenge. In any aftermath of a war, as individuals come back to their homes, it is expected that explosive ordnance (EO) will be found under the debris. Ensuring that adequate funding, resources, and coordination are in place for mine action will be crucial to guarantee the safety of people during the recovery and reconstruction efforts. Currently, UNMAS works together with UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, and other organizations involved in debris removal to assist in the planning process and actively contributes to the Early Recovery Plans developed by the UN Country Team.

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UNMAS oPt is committed to delivering in this increasingly difficult context and has adapted its operations to ensure its presence as the war continues. UNMAS has been making appeals to donors again since the third quarter of 2024 to continue supporting its work as it reaches a critical stage in continued emergency response and preparedness for ceasefire and postwar recovery efforts.  To enhance donor community awareness of humanitarian mine action needs in Palestine, UNMAS is organizing a Donors Forum on 13 September 2024. The forum will provide brief an update about UNMAS work in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. 

Data: August 2024