Gaza Civil Defense: Number of martyrs from building collapse rises to 11, including 5 children
The number of Palestinians killed in the collapse of a residential building on families and displaced persons in nearby tents in the Industrial Zone west of Gaza City today rose to 11, including five children, with more than 13 others injured, while approximately 100 Palestinians remain missing under the rubble, according to the Civil Defense in the Gaza Strip.
The Civil Defense stated that its teams, in coordination with municipal crews, have been conducting search and rescue operations and recovering the bodies of the deceased and the injured from under the rubble of the six-story residential building since midnight. The building had been targeted by Israeli occupation aircraft during the war, which left it on the verge of collapse.
It reported that “the number of fatalities so far has reached 11 Palestinians, including five children, while more than 13 others have sustained varying degrees of injuries, most of them children who were asleep at the time of the collapse,” noting that “the numbers are expected to rise in the coming hours.”
It clarified that “the building was housing dozens of Palestinians, including residents and displaced persons, while estimates indicate that approximately 60 to 70 people were inside and in the vicinity of the building at the time of its collapse, including the injured and the missing.”
The Civil Defense warned of the dangers posed by approximately 2,000 dilapidated buildings in the Gaza Strip that remain heavily populated, calling for the provision of necessary equipment to enable rescue teams to reach the missing and extract them from under the rubble.
Earlier, the Civil Defense had reported that eight people had been killed and more than 60 others were missing.
Mahmoud Basal, the Civil Defense spokesperson, told the French news agency AFP that the building “collapsed around 2:00 a.m.,” describing the incident as “a new tragedy.”
Basal noted that Israeli shelling had destroyed most of the surrounding homes and residential buildings, causing damage and cracking in the roofs and walls, and warned that “the lack of equipment and tools is delaying rescue operations, which will lead to a tragedy with a rising number of fatalities.”
