Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip has reduced entire neighborhoods to dust. The resumption of fighting and intensified airstrikes on southern Gaza after a week-long pause could mean that even more of the territory could meet the same fate.

But the war, however long it continues, is only the beginning. Parts of a postwar Gaza could long be dangerous to inhabit, let alone rebuild.

Riddled with hundreds if not thousands of unexploded ordnance, ranging from makeshift rockets built by Hamas to high-tech munitions provided to Israel by the United States, "the contamination will be unbelievable, like something from World War II," said Charles Birch, an explosives clearance expert for the U.N. Mine Action Service (UNMAS) who was in Gaza at the height of the bombing campaign.

Birch estimated it would cost tens of millions of dollars and take many years to make the entire area safe.

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Clearing Gaza will also be complicated by strict border controls. Controlled detonations require explosives. In past rounds of conflict, the lack of ground-penetrating radar meant that demining teams found themselves prodding through rubble and soil with primitive means, including bamboo sticks and digging by hand.

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The IDF declined to comment on the issue of unexploded ordnance or the degree to which it would help with clearance. Israel, unlike the United States, is not a party to the international agreement that seeks to limit the impact of unexploded ordnance, the 2003 Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War. The language of the agreement focuses on parties directly involved in conflicts.