A building sheltering displaced Palestinian families in Gaza City collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and injuring 14 others, according to rescue workers who said dozens more, including children, remained trapped beneath the rubble.
Gaza's civil defence said its teams had recovered the bodies of five children among the dead. Medical sources reported that rescuers could hear the voices of people trapped under the debris as they worked to reach them.
The search operation was being hampered by a lack of heavy machinery, rescue workers said, slowing efforts to lift slabs of concrete and reach those still buried. The injured were taken to hospital, where medical staff were treating casualties from the collapse.
The building had been housing families who fled their homes earlier in the conflict and were seeking shelter in Gaza City. The structure was already damaged by Israeli strikes before it came down on Wednesday, according to reports from the scene.
Rescue teams continued to dig through the wreckage into the evening, with relatives and neighbours gathering nearby as they waited for news of those missing. The civil defence said the number of dead could rise as more bodies are recovered.
The collapse adds to the toll on civilians in Gaza, where repeated strikes have damaged or destroyed residential buildings and displaced large numbers of people. Many families have been forced to move multiple times, often ending up in structures that have already sustained damage.
International humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that the conditions in Gaza make rescue operations difficult, citing shortages of fuel, equipment and medical supplies. The lack of heavy machinery at the site on Wednesday reflected those wider constraints.
No further details on the identities of the victims were immediately available. The civil defence said its priority remained locating and extracting anyone still alive beneath the rubble.
