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Good morning, this is Kasmira. They’re everywhere in Gaza. Unexploded bombs, artillery, mortars – most hidden under the rubble while others are in plain view, seemingly harmless to children playing nearby or a family returning to their home.

I spoke to an army veteran turned humanitarian worker whose job is to defuse them – a task that, for the moment, is unsafe and impossible to do without a ceasefire.

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Kasmira Jefford

11.10.2024


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Humanity and Inclusion employs over 230 staff in Gaza, helping with rehabilitation as well as education on the risks of explosive remnants of war. (Humanity and Inclusion)

“What I’ve seen in Gaza is the worst I’ve ever seen in my life,” says Nicholas Orr. The hardened British army veteran, who was last in the Strip on a mission in May and who will be returning mid-October, likens it to what he saw in the Iraqi city of Mosul after it had been heavily bombarded by US-led coalition forces fighting ISIS from 2014 to 2017. Though even here, he says, the scale does not compare with Gaza, where an entire population has been affected and over 50 per cent of buildings destroyed.

Orr, who has been working for Humanity and Inclusion (formerly Handicap International) since February, has gathered 25 years of experience clearing mines and other deadly explosive devices. His career, which included more than 10 years in the British army, has taken him to conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Mali and Ukraine. But nothing could prepare him for the levels of destruction and the sheer number of people squeezed into the southern city of Rafah he witnessed at the start of his last mission in March.

Read the full story on Geneva Solutions.


Solutions lab


🚘REVOLUTIONISING TRANSPORT. Elon Musk promises to make history with his new driverless cab, Cybercab.

ChatGPT on four wheels. Unveiled last night, Tesla’s latest prototype doesn’t need a human behind the steering wheel. An AI-driven system uses millions of recordings of Tesla cars to teach the vehicle to imitate the behaviour of human drivers – like a ChatGPT on four wheels.

Not so fast! An expert from the UN Economic Commission for Europe tempers the hype. While global rules for driver assistance systems, adopted in Geneva, came into force this month, this is still far from driverless cars, especially in areas like Europe, where strict rules will have to be developed before the AI-driven vehicles get the green light.

Tribune de Genève🔒 (FR)

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