Residential buildings collapsed in Gaza – tens of dead and injured

The several-storey house is said to have been damaged and cracked in Israeli attacks during the war. The building with four apartments per floor collapsed on the night of Wednesday on both the residents and tents that had been erected for internally displaced persons next door.

Gaza journalist al-Sultan lives not far from the neighborhood and used to see children moving in and out of the house and playing outside it.

- Here we have many multi-storey buildings that are still standing, you never think that there will come a day where they fall over sleeping people, he says.

In addition to the dead, at least 25 people have been injured and many may remain in the rioting masses. A total of around 100 people, half of whom are children, are feared to have been in and around the collapsed house, according to the rescue service. Their condition is unknown and the rescue work is hampered by the lack of excavators and other heavy equipment.

- A child remained under the rubble for more than an hour. We heard the cries of those trapped, but we could not reach them. Many dig in the racial masses with their hands, says al-Sultan.

The Civil Defense warns in a video statement on Wednesday that around 2,000 buildings in Gaza are at risk of collapse. Thousands of Gazan families have been living in damaged houses since the outbreak of war in October 2023.

The victims have been taken to al-Shifa Medical Complex, the main hospital in the city. There, doctors are appealing to the international community for immediate intervention and pressure on Israel to open humanitarian corridors to allow the entry of medical supplies, fuel and medicines.