At least 20 killed in as war-damaged building collapses in Gaza city, Civil Defence says

At least twenty Palestinians lost their lives when a six-story residential building, damaged in a previous Israeli strike, collapsed in western Gaza City. Civil Defence officials reported that the Al Saada building had been housing nearly one hundred residents, including ten displaced families, at the time of the collapse. The agency's spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, stated that about one hundred people remained trapped beneath the rubble and in surrounding tents.

Civil Defence teams are working with basic tools and hand-digging to rescue survivors, as they lack heavy equipment necessary for such operations. The agency urgently needs two excavators, a digger, and bulldozers to continue rescue efforts. Civil Defence is collaborating with the Egyptian committee, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Gaza Municipality to facilitate the rescue operations.

The UN Development Programme's Gaza office head, Alessandro Mrakic, highlighted the difficulty of the rescue efforts due to the lack of proper machinery. He emphasized that some UN agencies are participating in the rescue operations, but the limited resources are making the situation challenging. Mrakic noted that approximately four hundred buildings in Gaza are at risk of collapse, particularly as winter approaches and rain could further weaken damaged structures.