Rescue crews search Gaza City rubble after residential building collapse
Children and other survivors were reportedly pulled from a collapsed building in western Gaza City, while the number of people trapped and any casualties remained unclear.
A multi-storey residential building collapsed overnight in western Gaza City, with local witnesses and Palestinian journalists reporting that six families were trapped beneath the rubble.
Al Jazeera said it had verified footage showing rescue crews pulling children and other survivors from the wreckage. Witnesses said children could be heard calling for help as civil defence teams and residents worked through Wednesday morning.
Residents assisted by digging through the debris by hand. The available reports did not establish how many people had been inside the building, or whether anyone had been killed or seriously injured.
Gaza’s Health Ministry and civil defence had not issued immediate statements, according to the source. Local media reported that the building had previously been damaged in an Israeli bombing and left cracked and structurally unsound, but that account was not independently confirmed.
The collapse highlights the risks facing war-damaged buildings across Gaza, many of which remain uninhabitable or vulnerable to further failure. Shortages of construction materials and heavy rescue equipment have left crews heavily reliant on manual labour during emergencies.
