Gaza building collapse kills two civilians

A war‑damaged residential building in central Gaza collapsed, killing at least two people and injuring several others, health officials said. Relatives and rescue teams rushed to the scene where victims were pulled from rubble; several wounded were taken to nearby hospitals. The structure had been weakened by earlier fighting, and residents said many returned to live there because they had nowhere else to go.

Witnesses and family members described Gaza’s housing stock as broadly uninhabitable after prolonged bombardment, with one relative saying there is “not a single stable house” left. The U.N. Satellite Centre estimates roughly 81% of buildings in the territory sustained damage or destruction during the war, reflecting widespread structural collapse and a high risk of secondary casualties from unstable ruins and unexploded ordnance.

Aid agencies and local officials warned that the shortage of safe shelter, heavy equipment and construction materials forces displaced families to occupy precarious structures, raising the likelihood of similar accidents. Humanitarian groups said clearance and reconstruction efforts are severely constrained by limited access, fuel shortages and a lack of machinery needed to remove rubble and assess building safety, prolonging exposure to life‑threatening hazards even where active hostilities have paused.

The collapse follows a ceasefire that halted two years of intense Israeli bombardment and military operations triggered by a Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023. Gaza’s health ministry reports the offensive killed tens of thousands, and the aftermath has left large parts of the enclave devastated. Local authorities stressed that the danger to civilians persists away from front lines: damaged infrastructure, unexploded ordnance and weakened foundations continue to endanger lives as residents attempt to return and rebuild.

Rescue workers at the site relied on manual labor and improvised tools amid shortages of heavy machinery, underscoring operational limits faced by emergency responders. Officials appealed for increased humanitarian access, reconstruction aid and technical assistance to assess and secure damaged buildings, and to provide safe alternative shelter for families displaced by the conflict.

Humanitarian actors cautioned that without an urgent scale‑up of clearance, shelter and reconstruction support, more deaths and injuries from collapsing structures are likely.