Eight children among 21 killed after war-damaged Gaza building collapses, rescuers say

Gaza City – Gaza authorities said Wednesday that 12 children were among the 21 people killed when an apartment building collapsed due to damage sustained in earlier Israeli strikes. The six-storey building, which had four apartments per floor, crumbled overnight onto nearby homes and tents in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City, according to the civil defence agency, which works as a rescue service under Hamas authority. The vast majority of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli strikes throughout the war with Hamas, according to the United Nations.

At Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, AFP journalists saw weeping men carrying children’s bodies wrapped in white shrouds. Relatives crouched on the floor to say their final goodbyes to loved ones, kissing the faces of the dead between sobs. “These buildings are nothing but ticking time bombs,” said Ahmed Al-Ajla, whose uncle and other relatives were killed in the collapse.

“Before his death, my uncle… had endured displacement, poverty, imprisonment and loss,” Ajila told AFP, decrying the lingering danger from “houses on the verge of collapse”. – ‘No other choice’ – The civil defence agency said the building was housing more than 100 displaced people and had sustained damage from previous Israeli strikes. It said its rescue teams, “after hours of arduous work… recovered the bodies of 21 people who had been trapped under the rubble”.

Gaza’s interior ministry and health ministry, which operate under Hamas authority, both gave the same toll, noting it included 12 children and five women. The civil defence said it had also helped transport 45 injured people to hospital. The building was hit multiple times in 2024 and in March of 2025, leading to warnings for Gazans not to go back, civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said.

With neither tents nor homes available, they are living in cracked, damaged buildings despite the risk of collapse,” he added. Earlier on Wednesday, AFP footage showed the building reduced to an immense pile of shattered concrete, towering over a team of rescuers in high-visibility vests conducting a desperate search. Excavators bearing Egyptian flags worked to remove the debris, while rescuers and volunteers carried out the dead.

“My friend and neighbours live in this building. I came to help my friend retrieve some clothes and mattresses. Some 10 families had reportedly been living in the six-storey building in Gaza City that was hit by an Israeli strike last year.