The authorities of the Gaza Strip, controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), have updated the number of deceased to 21, including twelve minors, due to the collapse this Wednesday of a building where displaced persons were staying, which fell on several tents set up on a street in the city of Gaza, in the northern area of the enclave.
The Gazan Ministry of Health has released a new report detailing that the nine deceased adults are "five women, two men, and two elderly persons," without specifying the sex of the last two victims.
The department has added that 14 people have been injured, while the Civil Defense of Gaza raises the number of affected individuals who have needed medical attention to 45, once the search and rescue operations among the debris of the building were concluded.
According to the authorities, who hours earlier had reported the rescue of about twenty people from the rubble, the first emergency calls were received around 2:30 (local time) in the early morning of this Wednesday from a shelter located next to the collapsed building, following the "sudden" appearance of cracks and fissures.
After the alert, emergency teams were dispatched to the affected block, which is six stories high and known as the "Building of Happiness," which housed "about a hundred people," approximately half of whom were minors, residing in "dozens of tents."
Once on site, the Civil Defense personnel managed to evacuate about 35 people from the complex in operations carried out with the support of the Egyptian Committee, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The Civil Protection body has indicated that dozens of displaced persons were in the building after "being forced to live there due to the Israeli aggression." "They were protecting their children among the cracked walls and columns," it has denounced, referring to the prior damage suffered by the building as a result of Israel's attacks.
"This tragedy reminds us once again of the thousands of martyrs who lost their lives as a result of Israeli attacks on buildings and homes, as well as the thousands who remain missing under the rubble, with no possibility of being rescued due to the intransigence of the occupation and its refusal to allow the entry of the necessary equipment, machinery, excavators, and mechanical shovels to address these tragic events," he emphasized.
In the same vein, he warned that other buildings damaged by Israeli bombings could be at risk of collapse and reiterated the urgency of allowing the entry of heavy machinery and search and rescue equipment, especially in light of the "disasters" that could occur with the arrival of winter and the worsening of weather conditions.
On the other hand, the press office of the Gazan authorities emphasized that the collapse "deepens the humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza. "We hold the occupation and the international community fully responsible," it stated, accusing Israel of "deliberately obstructing rescue operations" by blocking the entry of necessary materials.
"The victims of this tragedy add to the more than 8,500 missing under the rubble in various governorates of the Gaza Strip, making intervention to rescue them urgent," the office pointed out, which has again warned about the danger faced by "thousands" of buildings damaged by the Israeli offensive launched after the attacks of October 7, 2023.
Hamas denounces the consequences of "the genocidal war"
Hamas has stated that "the humanitarian tragedy in the city of Gaza due to the collapse of the 'Building of Happiness' (...) represents a new chapter in the catastrophic humanitarian repercussions of the genocidal war waged by the criminal occupation against the people in the Gaza Strip."
"We hold the occupation responsible for this disaster, which constitutes a direct extension of the brutal extermination war in the Gaza Strip," the Palestinian Islamist group indicated, according to the newspaper "Filastin."
In this sense, it has emphasized that "the crimes of the occupation were not limited to bombing civilians, destroying their homes, and perpetrating massacres against them," underscoring that "their repercussions persist today with the collapse of damaged and ruined buildings where citizens were forced to take refuge, given the widespread destruction of homes and residential neighborhoods."
"The severe shortage of machinery for debris removal and rescue equipment necessary to search for the dozens of people missing under the building threatens to cause the loss of more innocent civilian lives as the critical hours pass," it has warned.
Hamas has therefore called for "urgent international action" to introduce heavy machinery and rescue materials into Gaza that would allow emergency teams to "reach those trapped and rescue those who are still alive."
The movement has also urged the mediators of the agreement reached in October 2025 with Israel to implement the United States proposal for Gaza, including Washington, to "assume their responsibilities" and "work to eliminate the restrictions that prevent the entry of rescue equipment and necessary machinery."