Gaza building collapse kills at least 20, dozens more trapped under rubble

Deadly Gaza City Collapse Leaves Dozens Feared Buried

Activelifezero.com – A residential building weakened by earlier war damage collapsed before dawn Wednesday in Gaza City, killing at least 20 people, among them several children, and leaving many others missing beneath the debris.

Rescue crews from Gaza’s Civil Defense were searching the remains of the six-story Al-Sa’ada building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood. The structure contained four apartments on every floor and had become shelter for displaced families. Emergency officials said roughly 100 people were unaccounted for as operations continued.

“Since midnight in Gaza City a tragic, painful scene has unfolded: a brutal humanitarian event, as you can see in front of you under this residential building, where dozens of innocent people were trapped,”

Mahmoud Basal, a Civil Defense spokesperson, described the collapse as a devastating emergency unfolding in the middle of the night. He said residents were awakened at about 3 a.m. by cries for help and children crying after the building came down.

“People woke up at 3 a.m. to screams and the crying of children who were inside after the building completely collapsed on them,”

The Al-Sa’ada building had been struck by Israeli airstrikes early in the Gaza war that began after the October 7, 2023 attacks, Gaza’s Civil Defense agency said. Damage from those strikes left the property vulnerable, reflecting a broader danger faced by people living in or near damaged structures throughout the territory.

A Shelter Crisis With Few Safe Options

Gaza’s housing shortage has forced many displaced Palestinians into buildings that may no longer be structurally sound. Hamas’ media office said the collapse buried “dozens of displaced families who had been forcibly driven to seek shelter there,” citing the lack of other safe places to stay.

The office warned that thousands of damaged buildings remain at risk across the Gaza Strip, including properties now occupied by people displaced from their homes. That risk is becoming more urgent as winter approaches, when exposed families face harsher conditions and the need for enclosed shelter grows.

United Nations figures show that about 80% of Gaza’s structures have sustained damage during the conflict, while roughly two-thirds have been destroyed. The scale of destruction has made ordinary housing decisions profoundly difficult: families must weigh overcrowding, damaged walls and foundations, continued airstrikes, and the threat from unexploded ordnance.

About 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza, close to 90% of the population, have been displaced during the war. Many have had to move repeatedly, often with little certainty that the next location will provide lasting protection. A damaged apartment block can become one of the few available options for families who have nowhere else to go.

Rescuers Warn of Further Collapses

Search teams continued working through layers of rubble at the Gaza City site, where the number of people trapped could change as recovery efforts advance. Collapses of buildings already compromised by bombing can create especially difficult rescue conditions, as unstable debris may endanger both survivors and emergency workers.

“We warn of further collapses like this incident in the Gaza Strip, in the areas where citizens are now sheltering.”

Basal’s warning points to a wider humanitarian concern beyond the immediate toll from the Al-Sa’ada building. Structures that remain standing may still have damaged foundations, cracked columns, weakened floors, or other hidden effects of repeated attacks. Without large-scale repairs or replacement housing, displaced residents may remain exposed to the possibility of further failures.

No major reconstruction effort has taken hold in Gaza since Hamas and Israel agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October last year. Instead, the proportion of damaged buildings has continued to rise since that agreement, the United Nations said in late August.

Uncertain Path to Reconstruction

The latest collapse underscores the gap between a ceasefire framework and the practical work required to make civilian life safer. Rebuilding homes, clearing debris, assessing unstable structures, and restoring basic urban infrastructure are all necessary before many displaced families can return to secure housing.

Progress also remains unclear for the Board of Peace created by US President Donald Trump to help advance the US-brokered ceasefire arrangement. The body has yet to produce concrete results, following recent criticism from Israel.

For Gaza City residents, the immediate focus remains the rescue effort at Al-Sa’ada. The disaster has renewed attention on the precarious condition of housing across the enclave, where the search for shelter has become inseparable from the risks created by widespread wartime damage.