A seven-story building in Gaza that had previously been damaged by Israeli strikes has collapsed, killing at least 12 Palestinians, including five children, and injuring 14 others.
Around 100 people, including about 50 children, remain trapped under the rubble. Rescue operations are continuing at the scene, while voices can still be heard coming from beneath the debris.
As of August, around 200,000 buildings and structures in the Gaza Strip had been damaged by Israeli airstrikes, with about one-third of them completely destroyed. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are still living in around 2,000 damaged buildings, while about 400 buildings are at risk of collapse.
Raed Al-Dahshan, director of Gaza's civil defense service, said at least 10 families had been living in the collapsed building and that there was still hope of finding survivors. According to him, voices can be heard from beneath the rubble, meaning there is still a possibility of finding people.
Israel began its large-scale attacks on Gaza after Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by Western countries, attacked Israel in October 2023. Since 2023, more than 72,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 171,000 injured as a result of Israeli strikes.
The damage to residential buildings, infrastructure and the economy in Gaza is estimated at more than $70 billion. Around 85 percent of the territory's 2.3 million residents, or nearly 1.9 million people, have been displaced.
The incident demonstrates the danger faced by people who continue to live in buildings damaged by the war. When parts of residential areas are already in a dangerous condition, even previous damage can turn into a new tragedy, particularly when displacement limits people's options for safe housing.
The number of people trapped under the rubble is one of the most important unknowns in this case, as rescue operations are still underway. The voices mentioned by Dahshan also indicate that it is still too early to make a final assessment of the consequences, and the final number of victims and survivors can only be established after the search operations are completed.
