Tragedy in Gaza City as Residential Building Collapses Leaving Six Families Feared Trapped

A multi-storey residential building collapsed overnight in western Gaza City, leaving six families reportedly trapped beneath the debris, local witnesses and Palestinian journalists reported.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera captured rescue teams pulling young children from the rubble, working tirelessly alongside residents who dug by hand through Wednesday morning. Amid the wreckage at the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, children's cries for help echoed from beneath the concrete as civil defence crews struggled to reach those buried inside.

Additional video footage showed a young girl rescued alive from the wreckage, alongside several survivors emerging breathless before being rushed away by ambulance. It remains unclear whether there are any casualties, and neither Gaza's Health Ministry nor the civil defence issued an immediate statement.

According to local media reports, the building had suffered previous strikes from an earlier Israeli bombing, leaving it structurally compromised and vulnerable to collapse. Thousands of homes and apartment buildings damaged or partially destroyed during the ongoing war remain uninhabitable throughout Gaza, posing continuous risks of sudden structural failure.

Many Palestinians continue to reside in makeshift shelters and half-destroyed buildings due to restrictions on construction materials entering the territory. The ongoing blockade on heavy equipment needed by civil defence teams to safely clear rubble and perform rescues has forced emergency crews to rely heavily on manual labour, significantly slowing response times.