At least 13 people died after collapse of a building in Gaza

Sa statement from the Civil Defense of Gaza, published on social networks, 16 other people were rescued alive from the rubble, ten of which are injured. Operations are still on site to try to locate the several dozen people who remain missing after the crash.

The entity, which lamented the “painful and tragic incident”, detailed that dozens of displaced persons were in the building after they “had been forced to live there due to Israeli aggression.”.

“They protected their children between the walls and the cracked columns,” lamented the Civil Defense, referring to the damage previously suffered by the building in Israel’s attacks.

The six - story building, known as the “Building of Happiness”, housed “about a hundred people” who lived in “ten tents”.

“ Half of them were innocent children with their fathers and mothers. Now, they are under the rubble ", pointed out the statement.

“ This tragedy reminds us once again of the thousands of martyrs who lost their lives as a result of the Israeli attacks on buildings and dwellings, as well as the thousands who remain missing under the rubble, with no possibility of rescue due to the intransigence of the occupation [referring to Israel] and its refusal to allow the entry of equipment, machinery, excavators and mechanical shovels necessary to deal with these tragic events,” said the Civil Defense Note.

In this sense, there was a warning about possible collapses of other buildings affected by Israeli attacks and an insistence on the need to allow the entry of equipment and machinery for search and rescue work, especially in the face of “disasters” that may occur with the arrival of winter and the worsening of weather conditions.

The Gaza authorities, through their advice, pointed out that the episode “agreed the humanitarian disaster” in the region.

“ We fully answer the occupation and the international community,” the organization said, accusing Israel of “deliberately obstructing rescue operations” by preventing the entry of equipment.

“ The victims of this tragedy add up to the more than 8,500 missing under the rubble in various provinces of the Gaza Strip, making urgent an intervention to rescue them,” the Gaza authorities declared, stressing the risk faced by “thousands” of buildings damaged by the offensive launched by Israel in the enclave, following the attacks of the Islamist Hamas group on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.