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STORY: UN / GAZA UNMAS INTERVIEW
TRT: 03:41
SOURCE: UN NEWS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Close up, United Nations flag in front of UN Headquarters
17 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Luke Irving, Head, Mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“You cannot get accurate information in detail how long it will take until there's complete access and a detailed technical survey can take place, which gives a greater sense of the problem on how long things would take.”
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
3. Close up, United Nations flag in front of UN Headquarters
17 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Luke Irving, Head, Mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“We educate people about the risks of explosive ordnance, and we mitigate the risk this this explosive ordnance pose by putting out UD teams who can identify these items, explain their threats and mark them and make sure that is mitigated and people understand not to touch that.”
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
5. Close up, United Nations flag in front of UN Headquarters
17 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Luke Irving, Head, Mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“So, at the moment we can see all the roads and main areas of routes where people need to go from A to B, they need to be opened up. To be opened up, engineering material needs to go through those areas, lift out the rubble and get out the way. That in itself has a risk of they might hit UXO and explosive ordnance, so that area needs to be checked. So straight away access and routes, they need to be opened up. Then we're looking at what infrastructure, what priority infrastructure needs to be opened up, which is driven by, you know, humanitarians and local communities. So, for instance, sanitation facilities, wash facilities, health centres, educational facilities, food facilities, food infrastructure. All the core basics to normalise people in a more economic and safe way is prioritised first.”
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
7. Close up, United Nations flag in front of UN Headquarters
17 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Luke Irving, Head, Mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“UNMAS needs to scale up but the whole sector needs to scale up. And I'm pushing very hard as a as a lead for UNMAS to make sure people can get in other organizations can get in and we have we all correctly address and make sure we're efficient at hitting the areas we need to have maximum benefit for people as life returns to normal.”
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
9. Close up, United Nations flag in front of UN Headquarters
17 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Luke Irving, Head, Mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“So, there's already a healthy community of Palestinian civil society-based organisations, Palestinian NGOs who deliver explosive ordnance risk education. Their activity in their work is really essential. They need to be uplifted, supported, expanded in what they do. This is literally their own communities. They know exactly who to talk to, who to deliver to. So, they need to be supported as much as they can financially and technically. Then we have international organisations coming in that bring in international experts who have the explosive remnants disposal, understanding. And they're going, as I said, to identify these munitions and to mitigate the risk around where these munitions are. And I hope in time we're working really, really hard to get the correct tools and equipment in so we can dispose of these items safely.”
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
11. Close up, United Nations flag in front of UN Headquarters
17 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Luke Irving, Head, Mission in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS):
“As we're in the ceasefire, a lot of people are moving and going to areas that were previously inaccessible and uninhabitable and there was conflict there. So, the risk of these explosive items is really high. They need to be educated so they can mitigate themselves and take ownership and, you know, reduce the risk to themselves and their friends and family about these explosives. So, what's important is people share the message. You know, once they have that education, once they have that understanding, they tell other people. It's not copyrighted this, you know, it needs to go out. Everyone needs to know about it.”
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
13. Close up, United Nations flag in front of UN Headquarters
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) top official in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Luke Irving, highlighted the important role Palestinian civil society organizations are playing in raising awareness about the dangers of unexploded ordnances, especially as people return to previously inaccessible areas in Gaza.
Irving explained the challenges ahead and the difficulty in making estimations “until there's complete access and a detailed technical survey can take place.”
In the short term, he said, “we educate people about the risks of explosive ordnance, and we mitigate the risk this this explosive ordnance pose by putting out UD teams who can identify these items, explain their threats and mark them and make sure that is mitigated and people understand not to touch that.”
Irving said roads “need to be opened up” and “engineering material needs to go through those areas, lift out the rubble and get out the way,” which “in itself has a risk of they might hit UXO and explosive ordnance.”
For instance, he said, “sanitation facilities, wash facilities, health centres, educational facilities, food facilities, food infrastructure. All the core basics to normalise people in a more economic and safe way is prioritised first.”
The Mine Action official said, “UNMAS needs to scale up but the whole sector needs to scale up. And I'm pushing very hard as a as a lead for UNMAS to make sure people can get in other organizations can get in and we have we all correctly address and make sure we're efficient at hitting the areas we need to have maximum benefit for people as life returns to normal.”
He noted the role of Palestinian civil society-based organisations and Palestinian NGOs “who deliver explosive ordnance risk education,” and stressed that “they need to be uplifted, supported, expanded in what they do,” as “they know exactly who to talk to, who to deliver to. “
Irving said, “as we're in the ceasefire, a lot of people are moving and going to areas that were previously inaccessible and uninhabitable and there was conflict there. So, the risk of these explosive items is really high. They need to be educated so they can mitigate themselves and take ownership and, you know, reduce the risk to themselves and their friends and family about these explosives. So, what's important is people share the message. You know, once they have that education, once they have that understanding, they tell other people. It's not copyrighted this, you know, it needs to go out. Everyone needs to know about it.”
