Gaza rescuers dig with bare hands as collapsed building toll reaches 12
Ten families were living in the Tal al-Hawa apartments despite warnings they were unsafe, as Israeli restrictions leave rescue teams digging with empty hands.
At least twelve people, among them children, have been killed and dozens remain missing after a war-damaged building collapsed in Gaza City, according to local rescue teams. The multi-storey block in the Tal al-Hawa district came down with its floors sandwiched together, crushing the apartments within.
Video footage shows the search for bodies and survivors continuing in the rubble, where members of the Hamas-run Civil Defence said they had at first been working with empty hands. Tight Israeli restrictions on equipment permitted into the territory left them without heavy machinery until they were able to borrow some.
Locals said ten families had been living in the building despite warnings that it was unsafe, a testament to how few alternatives remain for those displaced by the war. The collapse added to a toll that continues to mount across the Strip. On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas commander, according to health officials and Hamas sources. The Israeli military said it had killed a Hamas commander in southern Gaza and another fighter in the north; in both cases, a child was also reportedly killed.
Separately, the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians said that a patient was killed by an Israeli drone at a health centre it supports in Jabalia, in northern Gaza.