A building weakened during the Israel-Hamas war collapsed in Gaza City on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and trapping dozens beneath the rubble, according to Gaza's Civil Defense rescue agency.
The multistorey building had housed displaced Palestinian families after being partially destroyed in an Israeli strike early in the war. Its collapse underlined the danger facing people who remain in damaged homes because they have no alternative shelter.
Gaza Civil Defense said eight children and six women were among at least 20 people killed. Other reported figures put the toll at at least 21 people, including six children, who died in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Wednesday morning. At least 15 people were injured, while another reported figure put the number injured at at least 14.
Dozens of people were reported missing and trapped under the wreckage. Civil defence crews used bulldozers to pull people from the debris, while other rescue workers searched with their bare hands because of the shortage of heavy machinery in the Gaza Strip.
The building had been heavily damaged during the war, and warnings had been issued about its safety before it fell. Accounts of the number of residents also differed. It was reported to have been sheltering about six displaced families, while another account said at least 10 families had been living in the building.
The precise cause of the structural failure remains unknown. It is also unclear whether the collapse could have been prevented, whether residents received any formal evacuation orders, or how many people remain beneath the rubble.
Raed Al-Dahshan, the director of Gaza City's civil defense service, is leading an emergency response constrained by limited equipment. The search for survivors has been hampered by Israeli restrictions on heavy machinery entering the Gaza Strip, leaving crews with fewer tools for clearing unstable debris.
The collapse comes as damaged housing remains a wider danger across Gaza. Alessandro Mrakic, head of the United Nations Development Program's Gaza office, said approximately 400 buildings were at risk of collapse. Authorities say about 2,000 damaged buildings are still inhabited by Palestinian families.
The approaching wetter autumn and winter weather adds urgency to the problem for families living in compromised structures. No timeline or plan has been set out for relocating residents from the damaged buildings, and the brief does not establish what structural assessments or inspections have been carried out.
Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, is among the officials involved in the wider humanitarian response as rescuers continue searching the collapsed building.
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