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STORY: UN / OPT MINE ACTION PROGRAMME
TRT: 4:37
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 APRIL 2026, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
30 APRIL 2026, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Van Der Walt, Chief of the Mine Action Programme, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT):
“So since October 2023, in Gaza, more than a thousand people, I think the latest figure is more than 1,200 people, or on an average of one person every single day have been killed or injured by explosive ordnance. So of all the accidents that we have been able to verify and get more information, about nearly half of those victims are children. And these are only the cases that we know about, but we know that this is a severely underreported figure. And the true toll is certainly almost far higher.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Van Der Walt, Chief of the Mine Action Programme, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT):
“Although we have not yet been able to conduct a comprehensive survey, all clearance efforts, evidence suggests a very high density of explosive ordnance contamination relative to Gaza’s small geographic size. We have already identified nearly 1,000 dangerous items during missions requested by humanitarian partners only. That equates to encountering an explosive device every 600 metres in Gaza, a small geographic size. And this means that no community, no child, and no family can avoid the threat.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Van Der Walt, Chief of the Mine Action Programme, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT):
“We are delivering a comprehensive and coordinated mine action response, which is ultimately the key to unlocking all these initiatives. We are working within our sector, which is the mine action sector, to deliver and to enable humanitarian delivery by conducting explosive hazard assessments, of both aid sites and routes. We are accompanying missions to ensure humanitarian convoys can move safely. We are raising awareness amongst the communities and humanitarian staff through risk education, so people know how to protect themselves.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Van Der Walt, Chief of the Mine Action Programme, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT):
“The response remains constrained at this point in time. We have several factors as being affected of all entities. Are there all humanitarian partners, including security conditions, access restrictions and a lack of our own technical equipment that prevents us from scaling up and doing the full scope of mine action activities. We have the expertise, we've got the trained personnel, and we are ready to expand mine action activities within Gaza. What we need now is the space and the support to act the more comprehensively we can respond to explosive ordnances now, the less of a threat these ordnances will pose in the future.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Van Der Walt, Chief of the Mine Action Programme, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT):
“So over the last two years, we have also seen an increase in explosive ordnance contamination in the West Bank, with explosives and weapons being used throughout the territory, including densely populated refugee camps and in cities. Communities have to live alongside these dangerous threats until the items can be cleared. While parties work tirelessly to deliver lifesaving risk education messaging, promoting safe behaviors, access restrictions continue to hinder these efforts. We continue to work very closely with partners in the West Bank to support the coordinated mine action response, delivering training and advice and raising awareness, particularly among at risk communities such as the Bedouin and IDP communities.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Julius Van Der Walt, Chief of the Mine Action Programme, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT):
“Explosive ordnance contamination in Gaza and the West Bank is a daily emergency. It kills it maimes and it undermines the community the chance to rebuild. UNMAS is enabling humanitarian delivery and raising awareness to save lives. But unless mine action activities are expanded, the risks will ultimately remain and recovery will remain impassible.”
14. Wide shot, press briefing room
04 APRIL 2026, GAZA CITY
15. Various shots, destroyed residential neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip
16. Various shots, explosive objects and remnants of war that UNMAS teams have worked to identify and neutralize in areas where residents have returned
17. Various shots, UNMAS teams carrying out field operations in devastated areas across the Gaza Strip
18. Various shots, UNMAS teams identifying and removing explosive remnants of war located between destroyed buildings and near displaced persons’ tents in the Gaza
Strip
UN top mine action expert Julius Van Der Walt told reporters that explosive ordnance contamination in Gaza and the West Bank is “a daily emergency,” stating an average of one person every day has been killed or injured by explosive ordnance in Gaza, nearly half of them are children.
Walt briefed reporters today (30 Apr) via video link from Gaza. He said, “since October 2023, more than 1,200 people have been killed or injured by explosive ordnance in Gaza, adding that of all the accidents UNMAS has verified, about nearly half of those victims are children.
The UNMAS official explained, “these are only the cases that we know about, but we know that this is a severely underreported figure. And the true toll is certainly almost far higher.”
Walt also said, “Although we have not yet been able to conduct a comprehensive survey, all clearance efforts, evidence suggests a very high density of explosive ordnance contamination relative to Gaza’s small geographic size.”
He continued, “we have already identified nearly 1,000 dangerous items during missions requested by humanitarian partners only. That equates to encountering an explosive device every 600 metres in Gaza, a small geographic size.”
“And this means that no community, no child, and no family can avoid the threat,” the mine action expert reiterated.
On the work of UNMAS in Gaza, Walt said, “we are delivering a comprehensive and coordinated mine action response, which is ultimately the key to unlocking all these initiatives.”
He continued, “we are working within our sector, which is the mine action sector, to deliver and to enable humanitarian delivery by conducting explosive hazard assessments, of both aid sites and routes. We are accompanying missions to ensure humanitarian convoys can move safely. We are raising awareness amongst the communities and humanitarian staff through risk education, so people know how to protect themselves.”
The chief of the UNMAS programme highlighted that the service’s response “remains constrained at this point in time.”
He said, “we have several factors as being affected of all entities, as all humanitarian partners, including security conditions, access restrictions and a lack of our own technical equipment that prevents us from scaling up and doing the full scope of mine action activities.”
Walt added, “we have the expertise, we've got the trained personnel, and we are ready to expand mine action activities within Gaza. What we need now is the space and the support to act. The more comprehensively we can respond to explosive ordnances now, the less of a threat these ordnances will pose in the future.”
The UNMAS official said that over the last two years, there has been an increase in explosive ordnance contamination in the West Bank, “with explosives and weapons being used throughout the territory, including densely populated refugee camps and in cities.”
He said, “communities have to live alongside these dangerous threats until the items can be cleared, while parties work tirelessly to deliver lifesaving risk education messaging, promoting safe behaviors, access restrictions continue to hinder these efforts.”
Walt stressed, “we continue to work very closely with partners in the West Bank to support the coordinated mine action response, delivering training and advice and raising awareness, particularly among at risk communities such as the Bedouin and IDP communities.”
The UNMAS official reiterated, “explosive ordnance contamination in Gaza and the West Bank is a daily emergency. It kills it maims and it undermines the community the chance to rebuild.”
He concluded, “UNMAS is enabling humanitarian delivery and raising awareness to save lives. But unless mine action activities are expanded, the risks will ultimately remain and recovery will remain impassible.”
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