A catastrophic collapse of a six-storey residential building in Gaza City has resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Palestinians, including five children. Palestinian Civil Defence officials confirmed on Wednesday that 14 others sustained injuries during the overnight incident, which has left dozens of residents feared trapped under the debris.
Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal reported that rescue teams are currently working under extreme pressure to recover victims. He indicated that nearly 100 people may remain buried beneath the structure. Efforts to reach potential survivors are severely hampered by a lack of heavy equipment, forcing responders to rely on manual labour to clear the wreckage.
Verified video footage from the scene captures the desperate nature of the operation, showing rescue crews and local residents working side-by-side. The recordings include scenes of children being pulled from the ruins and the audible cries of those still awaiting help beneath the heavy concrete slabs.
According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, the building was previously hit by an Israeli strike during the ongoing war. This earlier impact severely compromised the structure’s integrity, eventually leading to its total collapse. The office issued a statement holding the Israeli occupation and the international community directly responsible for the tragedy.
The incident highlights a broader humanitarian issue in the region, where thousands of damaged buildings remain occupied because displaced families have nowhere else to go. Civil defence teams note that many residents currently reside in structures that directly threaten their lives, particularly as there is a critical shortage of suitable tents and established refugee centres.
Gaza City Mayor Yahya Al Sarraj described the local municipality and civil defence as being essentially paralysed. He warned that this is not an isolated event and that further collapses are feared as infrastructure continues to fail under current conditions. The lack of construction materials and heavy machinery, which are strictly limited from entering the territory, further complicates the ability to perform emergency rescues.
As the situation remains dire, rescue teams continue the arduous process of searching for missing people. The inability to safely clear rubble or stabilize damaged buildings continues to slow response times significantly, leaving families trapped in precarious positions across the besieged territory. The report also notes that and several survivors emerging from the rubble, including young children appearing breathless, before being taken away by ambulance, one video showed a young girl pulled alive from the wreckage. The report also notes that “The collapsed building, consisting of six floors, with four residential apartments on each floor, had been directly targeted during the genocidal war, weakening its structural integrity and ultimately causing its collapse,” it said in a statement.
