The residents of Gaza awoke this morning to the heartbreaking news of the death of 21 Palestinians, including women and children, due to the collapse of a residential building in the industrial area, southwest of Gaza City. This building had been home to dozens of displaced individuals. Additionally, ten Palestinians were killed and eleven others injured in Israeli airstrikes. The "Saada" building, which had sustained damage from previous Israeli bombardments, collapsed during the early hours, tragically falling upon its occupants while they were asleep, as well as the nearby tents of other displaced families.
According to local residents, the building housed numerous individuals, primarily displaced persons, and had shown signs of damage and cracks following earlier Israeli strikes. The Civil Defense authorities have warned that approximately 2,000 buildings in Gaza are currently at risk of collapse, still inhabited by residents and displaced persons. They have called on the international community to provide necessary equipment and machinery to enable rescue teams to recover missing individuals.
Furthermore, rescue teams are continuing to retrieve victims from the rubble of the collapsed building. Reports indicate that over 50 children are trapped under the debris, with teams hearing voices from trapped individuals as they attempt to reach them. Local residents expressed concern that the collapse of this building signals the potential for further residential buildings to fail. They emphasized the urgent need to introduce mobile homes before winter arrives to provide alternatives for residents and the displaced.
The director of medical relief in Gaza City has stated that medical resources are limited and diminishing, with the health sector suffering from a fuel shortage. He noted that over 60% of ambulances are out of service, and delays in transporting the injured to hospitals exacerbate the death toll.
In parallel, Alessandro Marrakech, the director of the United Nations Development Program in Gaza, confirmed that UN relief teams and OCHA are racing against time to rescue those trapped under the rubble in Gaza amid acute shortages of equipment, fuel, and spare parts. Marrakech reported that UN assessments have revealed about 400 buildings threatened with immediate collapse, inhabited by civilians and families without safety measures in place. He stressed the urgent need for immediate solutions for housing, logistical supplies, and the establishment of safe shelters before winter to mitigate human losses and disasters caused by rain.
Moreover, medical sources in Gaza reported that ten individuals were killed by Israeli military fire, including a child and an elderly person. Three Palestinians were killed, and two others were injured in an Israeli strike that targeted a house in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood. The Al-Awda Medical Center in Al-Nuseirat reported receiving nine fatalities and nine injuries due to Israeli bombardment, with the strikes hitting a gathering of Palestinians near Salah al-Din Street in the Al-Bureij camp, although immediate details regarding the nature of the injuries were not provided. According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health in the region, violations of the ceasefire agreement, which has been in effect since October 2025, have resulted in the deaths of 1,381 Palestinians and injuries to 4,757 others.
As reported by albayan.ae.
