After the ceasefire in Gaza, Israel has left behind a silent killer – tens of thousands of unexploded bombs buried deep in the wreckage of homes, hospitals, schools and streets.

One in 10 of the missiles, grenades, shells and mortars fired into the Gaza Strip over the past two years are estimated to have failed, turning the area into one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Greg Crowther, director of programmes for British-based charity, the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), said that about 200,000 tonnes of ammunition has been unleashed by Israel overall.

He told Metro: ‘Until we are able to survey these areas, remove some of the rubble and identify the ammunition that has been used… [Some are] more prone to not functioning.

‘As we start to get more information, it will become easier to estimate how extensive that problem. 200,000 tonnes of ammunition has been used.

‘Last year, the United Nations quoted a failure rate of about 10%, which is reasonable. So it could be 20,000 tonnes of unexploded ammunition.’

These could range from 500kg airdropped bombs to rockets fired from a tank or an aircraft.

They lie half-buried in rubble and sand, wedged between collapsed walls, all invisible until it is too late.

Crowther warned that often, the highest number of accidents happen in the immediate post-conflict phase.

This is similar to what MAG is observing in Syria as displaced people return from Turkey and from inside Syria to areas where they have not been for many years.

He added: ‘We have already heard of reports of children being killed after finding and opening what appeared to be a box of fuses.’

It will take years – probably five or more – just to deal with priority sites in Gaza, MAG warned.

Any removal of UXOs would have to happen simultaneously with clearance of the ’80 million tonnes of rubble’ left after Israel’s bombing campaign.

Some areas have seen 90 to 95% of buildings entirely or partially destroyed and across the Strip, it is around 80%.

Crowther said: ‘Within that rubble there are human remains, asbestos, toxic chemicals, and unexploded bombs. It is a perfect storm of hazards.’

After the six-week bombing campaign in 2008-2009, it took two years for MAG deminers to clear 300 items.

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As this war has been ‘far more intense’, they are looking at ‘thousands of tasks, possibly tens of thousands’.

Crowther added: ‘It is a huge, multi-year, tens-of-millions-of-dollars job and that is just for the explosive ordnance response, not the rebuilding.’

Working with colleagues from their Palestinian partner Save Youth Future Society, MAG is trying to reach as many as possible displaced Gazans as they travel north along the coastal road to make them aware of the dangers.

Fact check: Did Israel leave behind booby-trapped toys?

Shortly after the ceasefire was announced, pictures of a booby-trapped Teletubby toy began circulating on social media.

A post on X, which has been viewed more than nine million times, said: ‘BREAKING – Gaza Civil Defense: We found booby-trapped children’s toys and canned food that the occupation deliberately planted to cause more casualties.’

Yet, the purple doll was discovered in Yemen, as shown in a video from 2018 that is still on YouTube.

The video was created by Project Masam, another humanitarian group that clears landmines in Yemen.

This does not mean that booby-trapped items have not been left behind in Gaza, but that misinformation has flooded social media.

Children’s toys and other everyday items stuffed with explosives have been found in Syria and Ukraine in recent years.

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Readers discuss Palestine protests, Tony Blair’s role in ‘peace’ negotiations and the presence of potholes on London’s streets

‘The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country.’

‘It’s outrageous we were being asked not to protest.’

‘If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.’

Across the street from her home in Ramallah, Madees Khoury runs Taybeh Brewing Company, a microbrewery that her father, Nadim, opened more than 30 years ago.

At the age of 39, she is the West Bank (and the Middle East’s) only female brewmaster, carrying forward his dream of making craft beer for his Palestinian Christian community in the Taybeh with the blessing of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Authority’s first president.

For the past two years, she has faced her hardest test — an intensifying Israeli occupation that has made every shipment of water, grain, and bottles to the community almost impossible.

Over the past four months in particular, Ramallah has faced increasing attacks from settlers.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in July two Palestinians were shot dead and dozens were left injured after settler attacks on the outskirts of Sinjil and Al Mazra’a ash Sharqiya towns.

It’s one of many attacks that took place over the summer.

‘They set fire to cars in the middle of the night, next to the church ruins from the 5th century,’ Madees told Metro.

‘They paint graffiti on houses, attack water pipes for no reason. One man from a nearby Israeli settlement comes on his horse – armed with an M16 assault rifle – and just walks through town to scare us.’

On Thursday, Israel shut the only crossing between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and neighbouring Jordan, stopping more than two million Palestinians from accessing the outside world.

‘Imagine not being able to get out of your neighborhood,’ Madees said.

Like many Palestinians, Madees feels there is nothing she can do to defend herself.

Since 1967, when Israel launched its occupation in the West Bank, Israeli military authorities consolidated complete power over all water resources and water-related infrastructure.

This worsened in recent months, with Amnesty International stating that mass-starvation and dehydration is spreading across Gaza.

‘Even the Internet is not in our control. We still have 3G in Palestine as the Israelis won’t allow Palestinians to have 5G,’ Madees said.

The brewery has struggled with obtaining export permits needed for international shipping through Israeli ports. But Madees hasn’t let this stop her.

In August, the Taybeh Brewing Co announced it would be teaming up with Brewgooder to produce and distribute a new lager in the UK.

Sun & Stone lager, which is brewed in Scotland, has been distributed among 1,600 Co-op supermarkets, with all profits going to aid Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Madees’ family could have opened a brewery in the US, where her father and her uncle studied, but they chose to keep the beer ‘100% Palestinian’ to carry the ‘resistance, resilience, love, passion, sweat, tears, blood’ of people in the West Bank.

The brewery opened right after the 1993 Oslo Accords, a pair of interim agreements that promised to bring about Palestinian self-determination, in the form of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

‘My grandfather told my father and my uncle, David, “You know, we don’t have a brewery in Palestine, why not open one?”‘ Madees said.

‘They challenged him, saying that if he can get them permits and licences, they will move back.

‘Immediately my grandfather got the land, built the building, got the permits and even the blessing from Yasser Arafat at that time. That is how it all started.

‘My father then named the beer Taybeh because he is proud to be from the village of Taybeh.

‘He even keeps a picture of the family tree, which goes back 600 years, on his home.’

Madees grew up in the brewery. From the age of nine, she watched her father and her uncle run the business; her childhood memories pinpricked by recollections of Israeli checkpoints and security installations being planted in her hometown.

Her family was among the few that stayed during the Second Intifada – a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its occupation that began in September 2000 – and continued to run the business ‘regardless of how difficult it was.’

She briefly left to study in Boston, but later returned after graduation and moved back to Taybeh to work with her family full-time.

Just as her father did, Madees sees the brewery as a symbol.

‘It is a message to the whole world that Palestinians are like anyone else – we do drink beer, we do make beer, we do work and try to live normal lives,’ she said.

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Readers debate the state of Palestine, the Liberal Democrats and the temperature of Autumn

Protests are heating up in Italy as thousands are holding a ‘block everything’ protest in support of Gaza.

People gather near Termini train station during a nationwide strike called “Let’s Block Everything” in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and demanding a halt to arms shipments to Israel, in Rome (Picture: EPA)

Workers …

For Palestinians, Britain has never been a bystander; it has been an architect of our dispossession.

The prime minister said in July he would recognise Palestine at the UNGA if the ‘appalling situation in Gaza’ did not improve.

Check out this map of every country in the world that recognises Palestinian statehood.

‘All the enablers have to go.’

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 65,000.

Pro-Palestine supporters, who targeted an Israeli team and forced the abandonment of the Vuelta a Espana’s final stage, have been branded ‘unacceptable’ by the race’s organiser.

Javier Guillen faced reporters a day after demonstrations targeting the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team brought Sunday’s finale to a premature end, just three kilometres from the finish line in Madrid.

‘I want to express my regret, but especially condemn what happened in the last stage of the Vuelta a Espana,’ Guillen said.

‘The images speak for themselves. I believe that everything that happened is absolutely unacceptable.’

The protests, sparked by the ongoing war in Gaza, saw demonstrators chanting ‘they will not pass’ as they overturned metal barriers and occupied the race route.

Two people were arrested and 22 police officers injured, according to the Spanish government.

Guillen insisted race organisers had tried to accommodate peaceful demonstrations throughout the three-week tour, but cyclist safety ultimately forced their hand.

‘What happened was that, about three kilometres from the finish line, there was another invasion of the road in which riders fell to the ground,’ he explained.

‘We were now talking about not only the impossibility of completing the stage normally, but also the fact that the safety of the cyclists was clearly in danger.’

The race director repeatedly deflected questions about whether the Israel-Premier Tech team should have taken part in the race, saying organisers simply followed International Cycling Union (UCI) regulations.

‘We have never wanted to enter into any debate. We have always been focused and concentrated on what we had to do: to get the race going,’ Guillen said.

‘The position of the tour is clear, we have explained it and we have said it; we are guided by the regulations of the International Cycling Union.

‘It’s the International Cycling Union that’s responsible for the regulatory framework that we follow. We have made this clear, everyone has heard it, and here the rules of participation are set by the International Cycling Union.

“It’s responsible for regulating the right of admission to races; it’s responsible for establishing the right or penalty of exclusion from races, and at all times we have adhered to the principle of legality, that is, we have been guided by who has the decision to adopt or not adopt the rules of participation for teams.’

While acknowledging protesters’ rights, Guillen struck a balance between tolerance and exasperation.

‘We think it’s great that everyone takes advantage of the race’s communication platform to make whatever claims they want to make,” he said. “But also, just as we express respect for the right to protest, we also want and demand respect for the race and our athletes.’

Danish cyclist Jonas Vingegaard was declared the winner after the stage was abandoned, but Guillen’s frustration was palpable.

‘Yesterday, our cyclists were unable to finish the stage, they were unable to race, which is, incidentally, the only thing they wanted and the only thing we have been asking for throughout these three weeks,’ he said.

In MetroTalk: Starmer is questioned over judgement failures, more on Rayner stepping down as Deputy PM and England flags put up in Dartford are defended

Tensions in the US are continuing to climb with the country’s position in the Israel-Gaza conflict.

A Banksy artwork portraying a judge striking a protester with a gavel has been removed off the walls of the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

The Metropolitan Police cordoned off the mural, boarded it up with metal gates, as crowds gathered to take pictures.

Security officers stood guard either side while a worker scrubbed it off with chemicals.

It had been less than 24 hours since the graffiti by the anonymous artist was first spotted.

The image was uploaded Monday on his Instagram account as proof of its authenticity, with Banksy simply writing: ‘Royal Courts of Justice. London.’

Showing a protester, holding a blank placard with splatters of blood, lying on the ground as a judge wearing a traditional gown and wig wields a gavel over them, it is thought to criticise the crackdown on protests in solidarity with Palestine Action in the UK.

The mural was painted days after almost 900 people were detained during a protest in London opposing the government’s proscription of the group.

Palestine Action was designated a terrorist organisation in July after two of its members broke into a British military base and sprayed red paint on two aircraft.

The decision to place the group on the same footing as Al Qaeda has been criticised by human rights groups and is being challenged in the courts by Palestine Action.

While Banksy has not confirmed the meaning behind the stenciled piece, the timing suggest the connection.

Responding to the work, a spokesperson for campaign group Defend Our Juries, which organised Saturday’s demonstration said in a statement that it ‘powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed by [the then-UK Home Secretary] Yvette Cooper on protesters by proscribing Palestine Action’.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: ‘On Monday, officers received a report of criminal damage to the side of the Royal Courts of Justice. Inquiries continue.’

The court service has since confirmed that it is legally obliged to maintain the character of the building because of its listed status.

The 143-year-old complex ‘is a listed building and HMCTS are obliged to maintain its original character,’ the service said in a statement.

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‘As a Jew, and lots of Jews ask themselves this question, I ask myself what would I have done if I was living in Nazi Germany’

The protest is underway in central London.

I’ve had stun grenades thrown at me and been shot at.

‘The story here is about Palestine. The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive’.

‘We have to realise that people trying to do the right things should be respected and not vilified.’

Readers discuss the bombing of another hospital in Gaza, policing protests and women’s rights under Reform.

Four journalists have been killed in an Israeli ‘double-tap’ massacre on Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza.

Cameraman Hussam al-Masri, a Reuters contractor, was killed in the first missile strike on the fourth floor of the hospital in Khan Younnis earlier this morning.

One of the most prominent photojournalists in Gaza, Mariam Abu Dagga, Al Jazeera cameraman Mohammed Salama and photojournalist Moaz Abu Taha were all killed in the second, which was aired on live television.

Dagga, 33, freelanced for Associated Press since the start of the war, as well as other news outlets.

At the time of her killing, she was reporting on Nasser Hospital doctors struggling to save children with no prior health issues who were wasting away from starvation.

The four journalists were among at least 15 people killed by Israel, which unleashed one missile first, then another moments later as rescue crews arrived.

The death toll has since risen to 20.

Gaza’s civil defence said that at least one emergency responder was killed and seven others were injured.

Photographer Hatem Khaled, who also works for Reuters, was also among those wounded in the second strike.

In the aftermath of bombings, the Israeli army routinely fires on Palestinian rescue workers to prevent them from saving those wounded. This was also the case in Nasser Medical Complex.

Witnesses said the second hit took place after rescue workers, journalists and other people had rushed to the site of the initial attack.

Live footage broadcasted on Alghad TV showed Israel’s ‘double-tap’ strike as a missile hit one of the floors of the hospitals where rescue workers were helping the wounded.

Nasser Hospital, based in Khan Younis is the largest in southern Gaza. It has withstood raids and bombardment throughout 22 months of war, with officials citing critical shortages of supplies and staff.

Both Reuters and AP news agencies have confirmed that their journalists were killed.

Gaza’s Government Media Office said in a statement shortly after Israel’s attack: ‘The journalist colleagues were martyred when the Israeli occupation committed a horrific crime by bombing a group of journalists who were on a press coverage mission at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis Governorate, and many martyrs fell victim to this crime.

‘We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and the countries participating in the genocide crime, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, fully responsible for committing these heinous brutal crimes.’

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How many journalists has Israel killed in Gaza?

The deaths of the four journalists add to the growing number of media workers targeted and killed during the war – at least 240, according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

Meanwhile, a tally by Shireen.ps has the total number to nearly 270.

The head of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated in 2024 that ‘Israel’s war on Gaza is more deadly to journalists than any previous war’.

So far this year, more than 50 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza.

Just two weeks ago, Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif was assassinated alongside several other colleagues in a targeted Israeli attack on a tent housing journalists in Gaza City.

Al Jazeera correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh and camera operators Ibrahim Zaher and Mohammed Noufal were among those killed.

Also killed were freelance cameraman Momen Aliwa and freelance journalist Mohammed al-Khalidi.

Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia’s Occupied Palestinian Territory Spokesperson said: ‘No journalist should ever be targeted or killed simply for carrying out their work.

‘Israel must not be allowed to deliberately attack and kill journalists with impunity. Justice must be served for these brave journalists and their family members.’

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