At least 21 people, including 12 children, were killed today when a six-story building that had been damaged by Israeli strikes collapsed in Gaza City, according to Palestinian rescue services.
“After many hours of intensive work, our teams recovered the bodies of 21 people who had been trapped in the rubble of the collapsed building (…) Among the dead are 12 children,” the Civil Defense Agency—which operates as a rescue service under Hamas—reported in its latest update.
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The six-story building, which consisted of four apartments per floor, had been targeted by Israel during the war. “The bombing compromised its structural integrity and caused it to collapse,” the Hamas press office in Gaza reported.
The apartment building collapsed in the middle of the night, while dozens of people who had found temporary shelter there were sleeping. This explains the high number of casualties.
Until late in the afternoon, rescuers and local residents were trying by any means possible—often with their bare hands—to clear away the rubble, pieces of concrete, and metal mesh to reach those trapped. Civil Protection explained that its members are working “with limited equipment and makeshift tools” because Israel “is preventing heavy machinery from entering” the Gaza Strip.
Amid the rubble, Agence France-Presse journalists saw a body wrapped in a white shroud. Other photos show a family mourning the loss of a young child.
“My friend and my neighbors lived in this building. I came to help try to find some clothes and mattresses. There is no longer a shelter or a home,” said Mohanad Al Masraoui, a young man who was watching the rescue operation.
According to the Hamas press office, the building’s residents had been asked not to return to their homes after the bombing, but many of them took the risk, given the destruction in the enclave and the lack of shelter. “We hold the Israeli occupation and the international community fully and directly responsible for this devastation afflicting our people,” Hamas added in its statement.
At Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, journalists saw men weeping as they held dead children wrapped in shrouds. Relatives of the victims were also there to say goodbye, weeping uncontrollably as they bid farewell to their loved ones.
“These buildings are nothing but time bombs,” said Ahmed Al-Ajla, whose uncle and other relatives were killed in the collapse.
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it had delivered equipment to assist in search and rescue operations, at the request of local authorities. “As the rainy and windy season approaches, the risk of these buildings collapsing will increase, threatening even more lives,” it warned.
Most buildings in the Gaza Strip were completely destroyed or sustained extensive damage from Israeli bombings during the war that followed Hamas’s attack on Israelion October 7, 2023, which claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people. More than 73,000 Palestinians were killed and 174,000 were injured in the war in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
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