6-year-old said killed after unexploded IDF ordinance goes off in central Gaza

A 6-year-old boy was killed and his brothers moderately wounded when unexploded IDF ordnance blew up in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza this afternoon, Hamas’s interior ministry says. The boy’s name is not given in the statement.

According to Hamas’s civil defense agency, the ordnance exploded inside a family home. The agency says there were two other incidents of leftover ordnance blowing up today. The statement does not mention any injuries as a result of those explosions.

The interior ministry says thousands of explosives are still left over in the Strip and urges Gazans who find unexploded ordnance and other suspicious objects to alert Hamas authorities.

According to a UN-led database, more than 53 people have been killed and hundreds injured by lethal remnants from the two-year Israel-Hamas war. An official with aid group Humanity & Inclusion estimated, following the Gaza ceasefire deal in October, that it would take between 20 and 30 years to clear Gaza’s surface of unexploded munitions.

The official said aid groups have not received full permission to start removing the munitions and importing necessary equipment. COGAT, the Defense Ministry agency overseeing Gaza aid, blocks items from entering Gaza that it considers have “dual use” — both civilian and military.

Reuters contributed to this report.