Gaza strip: A residential building collapsed Monday in Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. The building had been previously bombarded by the Israeli occupation army during its offensive on the enclave. Civil Defense rescuers recovered the bodies of a father and his child son, who were killed following the collapse of this high-rise building, the spokesman for the Civil Defense in Gaza, Mahmoud Basal, told Qatar News Agency (QNA).
According to Qatar News Agency, Basal added that the rescuers hospitalized five wounded individuals, some of whom were in critical condition, clarifying that this high-rise residential compound had entirely collapsed today due to vibrations and the fallout from this intense Israeli shelling, as east Maghazi and the eastern areas of the Gaza Strip come under daily bombings. The Civil Defense has suspended the operation of responding to distress calls for removing the risks from damaged buildings due to the shortage of fuel and rescue equipment, he pointed out.
Basal further indicated that since the ceasefire deal took effect on Oct. 10, the civil defense personnel recorded the removal of hazardous concrete blocks and barriers from almost 3,445 buildings and homes damaged by Israeli shelling, which had posed a threat to the lives of residents and displaced persons in various areas across the Gaza enclave. There are as many as 1,560 suspended distress calls reportedly for buildings that were damaged by the Israeli bombing and require removal of hazardous blocks, but the Civil Defense is incapable of responding to these calls due to the depletion of most fuel quantities and the decrepit condition of a significant quantity of equipment available in the governorates, Basal noted.
Basal further pointed out that this equipment is very meagre and limited and has not been responding to the minimum level of response, which was 30 percent of the total calls. He warned that the lives of thousands of Palestinians who inhabit these high-rises, along with the displaced people in the contiguous tents, are in big danger amid the suspension of responses to distress calls. Several residential buildings, rendered at risk of collapse after being previously shelled by the occupation army and housing displaced persons and residents, have collapsed since the onset of the winter season, claiming the lives of more than 20 Palestinians, including children and women.
Residents of the Gaza Strip, particularly those displaced in tents, have been facing a severe humanitarian catastrophe since the onset of the war of genocide on Gaza, amid the absence of basic shelter supplies, the occupation ban on their entry, and the worsening living conditions. This has forced many to live inside bombed-out buildings and collapse-prone homes damaged by bombardment, despite repeated warnings to evacuate due to the grave threat to their lives.
On Oct. 10, 2025, a ceasefire deal entered into force between Hamas movement and Israel following the withdrawal of the occupation army from sites and densely populated areas in the enclave. Thereafter, the displaced people started to pour into the northern enclave as part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump's initiative to end the war on Gaza.