A building housing about 100 displaced Palestinian families has collapsed in Gaza City, killing at least 21 people in their sleep, including 11 children, forcing rescuers to dig through the rubble with their bare hands as they search for dozens of people believed to be trapped.
A rescue team from Gaza’s civil defence said they had recovered the bodies of five children among the victims, while 25 injured people were taken to hospital. Medical sources said rescuers could hear the voices of people trapped beneath the rubble as they tried to reach them.
The bombed-out multistorey building, which contained four apartments on each floor, had previously been hit by Israeli strikes during the war, leaving its structure badly weakened and at risk of collapse. When it gave way on Wednesday, it fell on to tents beside it housing displaced families, witnesses said.
The collapse highlights the continuing danger facing tens of thousands of Palestinians living in an estimated 2,000 buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza.
Mohammed Abu Dan, a superviser with the civil defence team recovering victims, said more than 10 families had been living in the building and displaced people had been forced to stay there because no other shelter was available.
“Search and rescue operations are being carried out under extremely difficult conditions due to a lack of the necessary equipment and resources,” he said.
Palestinian and UN officials have blamed Israeli restrictions on Gaza for the lack of heavy machinery in the territory. Israel says its restrictions are intended to prevent equipment from reaching militant groups.
A video obtained by Reuters showed rescue workers trying to pull two people from beneath a collapsed wall. Another video circulating on social media showed Gaza’s civil defence spokesperson, Mahmoud Basal, carrying a young girl wrapped in a bloodstained scarf.
Raed al-Dahshan, the director of Gaza City’s civil defence service, said: “We are still hearing voices from under the rubble, so there is still hope to find people.”
Alessandro Mrakic, the head of the UN Development Programme’s Gaza office, said rescuers from UN agencies were taking part in the operation, which he described as extremely difficult because of the lack of appropriate machinery. Egypt’s relief agency was also involved.
“There are actually people that are digging with their bare hands. We need to prepare [for more deaths],” Mrakic said.
Tents belonging to displaced families had been erected along the road beside the building because there was nowhere else for them to shelter.
Similar incidents have occurred repeatedly over the past two years, with dozens of homes and buildings damaged during the war later collapsing, trapping people and causing further deaths and injuries.
With few other options, many Palestinians have returned to partly destroyed homes or moved into abandoned buildings, clearing small spaces among the rubble despite the danger. Soaring rents and the cost of vacant land have made finding safer accommodation increasingly difficult.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians also remain unable to return to neighbourhoods near the so-called yellow line, forcing families to find whatever space they can elsewhere. In May, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the military to seize 70% of Gaza.
Damaged roofs, walls and supporting columns can collapse without warning, particularly during strong winds, heavy rain or further bombardment. Asked whether they feared for themselves and their children, people living there said: “Yes, we are afraid, but where can we go? This is better than staying out on the street.”
Israeli strikes on Gaza have continued despite the ceasefire. According to Gaza’s health ministry, 1,369 Palestinians have been killed and 4,627 wounded since the fragile ceasefire took effect on 11 October 2025.
This year, an independent UN inquiry found Israel had continued to commit genocide by deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza.
Separately, a video from the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City showed the aftermath of an Israeli drone strike that killed Mohammed al-Zinati, 15, and wounded several other people. Al-Zinati had been trying to recover the body of a man killed in an earlier strike.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said on Wednesday that it was only a matter of time before Israel resumed full-scale war in Gaza and moved to force out its Palestinian population.
Katz, responding to criticism from another rightwing politician before the 27 October elections, said 70% of Gaza had already been emptied of its population during Israel’s offensive launched after the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023 that killed more than 1,200 people, the deadliest attack against Israel, according to official Israeli figures.
He added that the Israel Defense Forces were prepared “to finish the job so that we can also implement the migration plan”.
Since the war began, at least 73,783 Palestinians have been killed and 174,738 wounded, according to the health ministry.
