Bombed-Out Gaza City Apartment Building Collapses, Killing At Least 12 Palestinians

A bombed-out apartment building collapsed in Gaza City, killing at least 12 Palestinians, including five children, and trapping dozens of others beneath the rubble after the seven-storey structure fell overnight.

“killing at least 12 Palestinians, including five children”

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Gaza rescuers said at least 12 people, including five children, were killed and 14 others injured, while almost 100 more people were believed trapped under the wreckage.

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Raed Al-Dahshan, director of Gaza City's civil defence service, said at least 10 families lived in the collapsed building and there was still hope of finding survivors, adding, "We are still hearing voices from under the rubble, so there is still hope to find people."

Alessandro Mrakic, head of the UN Development Programme's Gaza office, said rescuers from some UN agencies were taking part but described the effort as difficult because of a lack of proper machinery, warning, "So there are actually people that are digging with their bare hands."

In a separate collapse report, Al Jazeera said a war-damaged six-storey residential building in Gaza City collapsed overnight, killing at least 21 Palestinians including five children and injuring 45 others, while trapping dozens under the rubble.

Mahmoud Basal, a Gaza civil defence spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that "civil defence teams are still working to recover martyrs from under the rubble and search for missing people," and said that "Until now, there are nearly 100 Palestinians still under the rubble of this building."

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Al Jazeera also reported that rescue teams lacked appropriate equipment, and said the building had previously been struck in an earlier Israeli bombing that left it cracked and structurally unsound before it collapsed.

Yahya Al Sarraj, the mayor of Gaza city, told Al Jazeera, "This is not the first collapse of a building and we fear that it may not be the last one," as he said the municipality and civil defence were "paralysed" by inadequate tools.

The collapse underscored the broader danger for Palestinians living in damaged buildings, with AAPNews saying the incident highlighted the ongoing danger for tens of thousands of Palestinians living in an estimated 2000 damaged buildings due to Israeli air strikes across Gaza.

“There are approximately 400 buildings at risk of collapse.”

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AAPNews quoted Mrakic warning that "There are approximately 400 buildings at risk of collapse," and said the situation would worsen with the upcoming winter.

Al Jazeera reported that many Palestinians are forced to stay in dangerous buildings that "threaten their lives" because they have nowhere else to go "in the absence of refugee centres or suitable tents," with Israel restricting the entry of construction materials and heavy equipment needed for repairs and rescues.

The Government Media Office in Gaza said it holds "the Israeli occupation and the international community fully and directly responsible" for the incident, and added that the six-floor building had been directly targeted during the war, weakening its structural integrity and ultimately causing its collapse.