Building collapse in western Gaza kills 21, including 11 children

Gaza: The death toll from the collapse of a residential building in western Gaza City has risen to 21, including 11 children and six women, with more than 25 people injured, local officials and residents said.

The six-storey Al-Saada building, which had been damaged in earlier Israeli bombardment, came down in the early hours of Wednesday near the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said.

About 100 displaced people were living in the building, residents said. Basal said rescue teams pulled 45 people to safety and recovered 21 bodies during a 16-hour operation, while another 35 managed to escape on their own.

Dozens of grieving relatives gathered outside the site, some digging with bare hands, the Xinhua news agency reported. Louay al-Ajla, 54, said he lost nearly 10 family members. “I received the news at dawn. It was devastating,” he said.

Palestinian authorities blamed Israel for restricting the entry of heavy machinery and equipment needed for rescue work. The Hamas-run media office in Gaza said more than 8,500 missing people remained buried under rubble across the Strip, describing thousands of damaged buildings as “ticking time bombs”.

Basal warned that more than 2,000 residential buildings were at risk of collapse as winter approaches, urging the so-called “Board of Peace” and countries guaranteeing the ceasefire to facilitate the entry of equipment and avert “imminent disasters”.

The collapse occurred amid continued ceasefire violations, with no progress in talks between Hamas and Israel despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in October 2025.

(Inputs from IANS)