12 dead, over 100 missing in Gaza apartment block collapse

At least 12 people including children died and more than 100 were missing on Wednesday after a Gaza apartment building collapsed from damage sustained in earlier Israeli strikes, authorities in the enclave said. 

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. 

Agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP the building had sustained structural damage from Israeli strikes. 

"At least 12 martyrs including five children have been recovered so far," Basal said. 

He said more than 100 people remained missing. 

The building was hit multiple times in 2024 and March 2025, leading to warnings for Gazans not to go back, he added. 

Palestinian children watch from a damaged house as rescuers work at the site of a nearby residential building that had been damaged in an earlier Israeli strike during the war and collapsed on Wednesday, in Gaza City. Reuters

"They have no other choice. With neither tents nor homes available, they are living in cracked, damaged buildings despite the risk of collapse," Basal said. 

The vast majority of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed in Israeli strikes, according to the United Nations. 

Israel launched relentless strikes on Gaza after the October 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 people, in the deadliest attack ever against Israel, according to Israeli official figures. 

The ensuing Israeli military campaign has killed more than 73,700 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the United Nations. 

With so many Palestinians left homeless, and major shortages of construction materials, many Gaza residents have taken the risk of moving into the shaky buildings. 

The civil defence agency has identified around 2,000 buildings in the Gaza Strip that it says are at risk of collapse. 

The Gaza government media office under Hamas pointed to delays in reconstruction of Gaza. 

"We hold the Israeli occupation and the international community fully and directly responsible for this catastrophe befalling our Palestinian people," it said. 

Israel has allowed additional aid into Gaza since the declaration of a US-brokered ceasefire in October 2025. 

But Israel has kept carrying out strikes and has restricted the entry of a range of equipment that it says could also have military use. 

Agence France-Presse