Eleven displaced Palestinians, including women and children, were killed before dawn Wednesday when the six-story As-Saada residential building collapsed in the As-Sina’a area, southwest of Gaza City, Al-Jazeera reported. About 100 people remained missing or trapped beneath the rubble as rescue operations continued.
Update: Al-Jazeera English said that at least fifty Palestinian children are among about 100 Palestinians who remain under the rubble of the collapsed building.
Al-Jazeera’s correspondent reported that the bombing-damaged building collapsed onto displaced families while they were asleep and also struck tents erected beside it.
Civil Defense and Gaza Municipality crews worked through the early morning, pulling casualties and survivors from beneath concrete slabs as relatives awaited news of those still missing.
Earlier Civil Defense updates reported lower preliminary figures. Al-Jazeera later reported that the death toll had risen to 11, while approximately 100 people remained missing or beneath the rubble. The final toll remained unconfirmed as the search continued.
Footage published by Al-Jazeera showed Civil Defense crews and residents digging through debris by hand and carrying survivors, including children, away from the building.
Civil Defense said rescuers lacked excavators and heavy lifting equipment needed to reach those trapped beneath the concrete.
Al-Jazeera’s correspondent said Israeli bombing during the war had left the building cracked and structurally damaged before it collapsed.
At a press conference at the site, Civil Defense warned that approximately 2,000 damaged and structurally unstable buildings across the Gaza Strip remain inhabited and could collapse without warning because families have no alternative shelter.
🚨BREAKING: In the dead of night, a structurally damaged building in Gaza collapsed on six families sheltering inside after it had been previously damaged by Israeli bombardment.
They are now trapped beneath the rubble. Children’s screams can be heard in the darkness as… pic.twitter.com/8ParWoYl8J
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) September 16, 2026
It appealed for urgent international intervention to allow the entry of heavy machinery needed to recover those still missing beneath the rubble.
The collapse underscored the continuing danger posed by residential buildings left structurally unstable by Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip.
Medical sources reported on September 1 that 34 Palestinians had been killed in collapses of buildings damaged by Israeli bombardment. The latest deaths raise that reported cumulative toll to at least 45.
Civil Defense said shortages of heavy rescue equipment were hindering efforts to reach people beneath the rubble. The Palestinian Information Center reported that Israeli restrictions on the entry of construction and reconstruction materials have left displaced families with few alternatives to damaged buildings or tents, exposing communities across the Gaza Strip to further preventable collapses.
In a separate incident, Israeli forces killed Palestinian fisherman Wisam al-Aqraa off Deir al-Balah on Tuesday evening, according to Sada News. His body was recovered Wednesday and taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
