GAZA CITY — A desperate race against time is underway in Gaza City as rescue workers labor with their bare hands to pull survivors from the wreckage of a seven-storey residential building that collapsed following an Israeli airstrike. The catastrophe has claimed at least 20 lives, including six children, with local civil defense officials warning that nearly 100 people remain trapped beneath the debris.
The collapse highlights a deepening humanitarian crisis, as tens of thousands of Palestinians continue to inhabit approximately 2,000 damaged structures across the territory. With shelter centers overflowing and new tents in critically short supply, displaced families have been forced to seek refuge in buildings that are structurally compromised.
“We are still hearing voices from under the rubble,” said Raed Al-Dahshan, the director of Gaza City’s civil defense service. As rescue teams struggle to reach those buried, harrowing footage has emerged of first responders pulling victims from walls of shattered concrete. In one particularly haunting scene, spokesperson Mahmoud Basal was captured carrying a young girl wrapped in a blood-stained scarf, a testament to the ongoing tragedy.
The recovery effort is being hampered by a severe lack of heavy machinery. Alessandro Mrakic, head of the UN Development Programme’s Gaza office, described the situation as “tragic,” noting that the absence of proper equipment has left residents and rescuers to dig through tons of concrete manually. Humanitarian officials blame Israeli restrictions on the import of heavy machinery, which Israel maintains are necessary to prevent equipment from being repurposed by militant groups.
The situation is expected to worsen as winter approaches. UN officials have warned that rainstorms threaten to trigger the collapse of an additional 400 unstable structures. “No one should have to risk their life simply to find a safe place to shelter,” said Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
At Al Shifa Hospital, the atmosphere was one of profound grief as survivors gathered to identify and bury their loved ones. Bashir Abu Al-Shaar stood by the shrouded bodies of his uncle, Abdallah Abdel Rahman al-Ejlah, and his entire extended family. “My uncle did not find a place in which he can live… so he had to live inside this building, which he knew could collapse,” Al-Shaar said.
While a US-backed ceasefire was established in October 2025, it has failed to stop the sporadic airstrikes that continue to plague the region. Since that agreement took effect, health officials report over 1,300 deaths in Gaza, mostly civilians. Efforts toward a permanent peace remain stalled, with Hamas and Israel trading accusations of violating the terms of the deal.
According to the United Nations, the conflict has generated approximately 61 million tons of wreckage across the strip, a daunting volume of debris that experts estimate could take up to seven years to clear.
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