Building Collapse

Two men in Tal al-Hawa lost their apartment building, and dozens more lost their lives with it. A war-damaged structure in Gaza City collapsed, killing at least 20 people and leaving dozens missing under the rubble, the BBC reported.

Five of the dead were children. Ten families had been living in the building despite warnings that it was unsafe, local residents told the broadcaster.

Rescue crews from the Hamas-run Civil Defence service began the search with "empty hands." Israel's tight restrictions on equipment entering Gaza had kept heavy machinery out, the BBC reported. Crews have since borrowed some machinery to dig through the collapsed floors.

This building is just one piece of a far larger search across the territory. Gaza's Civil Defence estimates roughly 8,000 Palestinians remain missing and buried under collapsed buildings, Al Jazeera reported. Search teams have only one excavator, correspondent Ghazi al-Aloul told the outlet. Recovery is slow.

On Thursday, Gaza City held a mass funeral for 50 Palestinians whose remains were pulled from rubble in Tal al-Hawa and four other neighborhoods, Sabra, Zeitoun, Sheikh Radwan and Shati, according to Al Jazeera. The bodies came from strikes early in the war, which began in October 2023. Members of the al-Sawafiri, al-Batniji and Gharbiya families were among the victims.

Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza's Ministry of Health, called for heavy machinery, search equipment and forensic supplies to be let into the territory, Al Jazeera reported, to speed recovery and help identify the dead.

Violence has continued despite an October ceasefire. Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least five Palestinians, including two children and a Hamas commander, health officials and Hamas sources told the BBC. The Israeli military said it killed a Hamas commander in southern Gaza and a fighter in the north, and that a child died in each strike. An Israeli drone killed a patient at a health center it supports in Jabalia, according to Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British charity, as reported by the BBC.

Since the ceasefire took effect, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,266 Palestinians and wounded 4,200 more as of Wednesday, Al Jazeera reported. Gaza officials say the war has killed at least 73,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 174,300 since October 2023, most of them women and children, Al Jazeera reported.