Eight children among 21 killed after war-damaged Gaza building collapses, rescuers say — SkimNews
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- The six-storey building in Gaza City's Tal al-Hawa area collapsed overnight, killing at least 21 people including 8 children, according to rescuers and medics, with satellite imagery showing damage first evident in 2024.
- Displaced families had been living inside the structure, which had been left tilting dangerously after an Israeli strike more than a year earlier; witnesses said the occupants had nowhere else to turn.
- Hamas-run Civil Defence rescuers initially searched with bare hands due to a lack of equipment; UN and Egyptian teams later joined, and the operation ended Wednesday afternoon after 45 injured were taken to hospitals.
- UNDP Gaza head Alessandro Mrakic warned that roughly 400 other war-damaged buildings across Gaza are at imminent risk of collapse, particularly with winter approaching, and that teams lack machinery, engine oil, and spare parts.
- UN humanitarian relief coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov urged Israel to approve deliveries of heavy machinery, tents, and tarpaulins ahead of winter rains; Israel says its restrictions are meant to keep equipment out of the hands of Palestinian armed groups.
- The UN estimates 80% of structures in Gaza are destroyed or damaged, that about 1.9 million people (roughly 90% of the population) have been displaced, and that 1.2 million are currently living in tents or makeshift shelters.
- Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable, puts total war deaths at more than 73,790 since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.
Why it matters: The collapse puts a concrete number on a structural crisis the UN has flagged repeatedly: roughly 400 more war-damaged buildings are at imminent collapse risk as winter approaches, with 1.2 million Gazans already sheltering in tents or makeshift structures. Israel's stated rationale for blocking heavy machinery — preventing military use by armed groups — directly conflicts with UNDP's warning that rescue teams lack the basic equipment to save anyone in the next collapse.
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