Conflict & Security
Gaza rescue teams end search after building collapse killed 21
September 17, 2026 at 04:01 PM
Coverage
3 reports · over 18 hours
Rescue teams in Gaza concluded search operations Thursday after a damaged building collapsed, killing 21 and leaving 45 rescued, with reconstruction still stalled a year into the ceasefire.
- Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said the building's collapse killed 21 people, including eight children.
- Basal said rescue teams, lacking necessary equipment, extracted 45 survivors and sent them to hospitals for treatment.
- Survivor Nader al-Ajla said his family moved into the damaged building because no other shelter existed, adding that without new shelters "this collapse will not be the last."
- Gaza's Public Works and Housing Ministry estimates around 3,000 buildings in the strip are at risk of collapse.