A multi-storey residential building collapsed overnight in western Gaza City, with six families reportedly trapped beneath the rubble, according to local witnesses and Palestinian journalists.
Rescue crews and residents worked through Wednesday morning to reach those buried inside, using their hands to shift concrete and debris. Local media footage showed children being pulled from the wreckage.
Cries for help could be heard beneath the collapsed structure as civil defence teams struggled to reach people trapped below. A young girl was shown being brought out alive, while several other survivors, including children, emerged appearing breathless and were taken away by ambulance.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone had died or how many people had been injured. Gaza’s Health Ministry and civil defence service had not issued an immediate statement.
Local media reported that the building had previously been damaged in an Israeli bombing, leaving it cracked and structurally unsafe before it gave way. The claim had not been accompanied by an immediate response.
Thousands of homes and apartment buildings damaged or partly destroyed during the war remain uninhabitable across Gaza and vulnerable to sudden collapse.
Many Palestinians are living in makeshift shelters or in half-destroyed buildings that had previously been hit. The entry of construction materials needed for repairs, along with heavy machinery required by civil defence teams to clear rubble safely, has been restricted.
As a result, rescue workers have often been forced to rely on manual labour to search collapsed buildings, slowing efforts to reach people trapped beneath the debris.
