The collapse of the "Al-Saada" building in Gaza kills 21 people amid warnings of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe.

It was barely midnight on Tuesday-Wednesday in the industrial area southwest of Gaza City when its residents were shocked by the collapse of the Al-Saada residential building, which was already damaged by Israeli raids during the years of the Israeli war on the Strip, killing 21 people out of about a hundred people who were residing inside it despite the dangers.

With the arrival of daylight hours came another collapse, such as the announcement by the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip that the health system was being led into a “mass and systematic execution process.” Officials in the Gaza Strip saw that the matter “exceeds the limits of a humanitarian catastrophe into a full-fledged crime of sanitary genocide.”

According to the testimonies of residents in the area of ​​the affected building, it included several families, most of whom were related by lineage, and all of them were residents of the Al-Shujaiya neighborhood, east of Gaza City, which was completely destroyed by Israeli forces.

The “Al-Saada” building is located next to some damaged buildings, and in its vicinity are displacement camps crowded with displaced people, which led to some of them being damaged, and some of their residents being injured.

Dozens of video clips, spread across social media, showed horrific scenes of the process of retrieving victims and injured people, in complex circumstances in which rescue crews worked. This led to shocking reactions among Gazans, large numbers of whom felt the danger of the time bomb in which they were now living in damaged homes, which they were forced to resort to instead of living in tents.

The civil defense crews, who were working with very limited capabilities, recovered the bodies of the victims from under the rubble, before they were transported by medical teams to hospitals in Gaza City. These crews succeeded in saving the lives of 15 injured people, some of whom were in danger, while dozens are still missing under the rubble.

It turned out that among the recovered victims were 8 children, 6 women, and 7 men, according to an initial toll. This was also confirmed by medical sources at Al-Shifa Medical Complex. It also turned out that among the victims was the wife of a prisoner in Israeli prisons, who was arrested during the war on Gaza, along with some of her sons and daughters. While the majority of the victims and missing people are from the Al-Ajla family, which is one of the largest families in the Shujaiya neighborhood.

According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, with the death of 20 Gazans in the building collapse, the number of victims rises to 50 cases, following the collapse of damaged buildings during the war on Gaza.

A statement by the Gaza Civil Defense Service noted that its crews sought help from the Egyptian Committee, the Red Cross, and the Gaza Municipality to help extract citizens from under the rubble. Urgently calling for the provision of engineering machinery, including bulldozers, excavators, and rams, in the hope of helping to rescue some of the people who are still alive.

The agency warned of further collapses that could affect dozens of damaged buildings as winter approaches, calling for the introduction of the necessary rescue equipment and machinery to deal with these disasters. He called on the Peace Council and the countries guarantoring the ceasefire agreement to work to bring in the necessary equipment to save the lives of the population.

The government media office in Gaza also warned that there are about 2,000 buildings at risk of collapsing at any time, noting that many of them are inhabited by residents and displaced people because there are no alternatives or sufficient geographical areas to establish new shelter centers.

He stated that there are more than 8,500 missing people still under the rubble in various governorates of the Gaza Strip, in urgent need of urgent intervention to rescue them.

The Government Media Office held Israel and the international community fully and directly responsible for this catastrophe that befell the Palestinians, holding them accountable for all the repercussions and effects of the continuation of this dangerous and unprecedented humanitarian deterioration experienced by more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip.

Collapse of the health system

This humanitarian deterioration comes in the wake of warnings issued by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, confirming that the health system in the Gaza Strip is being led into a process of mass and systematic execution, exceeding the limits of a humanitarian catastrophe into a full-fledged crime of sanitary genocide. According to what Zaher Al-Wahidi, Director of the Ministry’s Health Information Center, said during a press conference on Wednesday. Pointing out that health facilities have turned into isolated structures that are dying very slowly, in light of the continued siege imposed and the entry into the basic necessities of life.

He denied the allegations made by Israel about facilitating the entry of medical aid and logistical supplies, stressing that it is merely a weak farce, and an open attempt to beautify the face of genocide and cover up the war of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip. As he said. Pointing out that what is allowed to enter represents only a small amount and does not meet the minimum operational needs of health facilities, leaving them struggling between life and death.

He pointed out that hospitals are suffering from a severe shortage of fuel, oils, and spare parts needed to operate the remaining main electrical generators, at a time when more than 70 percent of these generators are completely out of service, which threatens the critical and life-saving departments to stop at any moment. He pointed out that the siege and the prevention of the entry of spare parts and car tires led to public transport companies and buses completely and almost completely stopping work, on Wednesday, depriving hundreds of medical personnel (doctors, nurses, This prevented technicians from reaching their workplaces, exacerbated the isolation of health facilities and paralyzed their ability to respond to emergency situations.