Gaza apartment building collapse kills at least 20, rescuers search for survivors
At least 20 Palestinians, including six children, were killed after a seven-storey apartment building collapsed in Gaza City, with dozens believed trapped beneath the rubble.
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories. Rescue workers searched through the rubble of a seven-storey apartment building that collapsed overnight after being damaged in Israeli airstrikes, killing at least 20 Palestinians, including six children.
Gaza’s civil defence said 14 people were injured and nearly 100 others were believed to be trapped beneath the wreckage. At least 10 families lived in the building, according to Gaza City civil defence director Raed Al-Dahshan.
Rescue operation
Rescue workers said they were still hearing voices from beneath the rubble and hoped to find survivors.
Video obtained by Reuters showed rescuers attempting to pull two people from under a collapsed wall. Separate footage posted on social media showed Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal carrying a girl wrapped in a blood-stained scarf.
Alessandro Mrakic, head of the U.N. Development Programme’s Gaza office, said U.N. agencies and Egypt’s relief agency were helping with the rescue operation.
Equipment shortages
Mrakic said the rescue effort was hampered by a lack of suitable machinery, with some people digging through debris by hand.
He said about 400 buildings in Gaza were at risk of collapse and warned that rain during the coming winter could cause further buildings to fall.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are living in about 2,000 buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza.
Palestinian and U.N. officials attribute the shortage of heavy machinery to Israeli restrictions on Gaza. Israel says the restrictions are intended to prevent equipment from reaching militants.
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