At least 20 people, including five children, were reported killed and dozens were missing Wednesday after a Gaza City apartment building collapsed, with the Hamas-run civil defense agency saying the structure had sustained damage in earlier Israeli strikes.

The six-story building, which had four apartments per floor, crumbled overnight onto nearby homes and tents in the Tal al-Hawa area of Gaza City, according to the civil defense agency, which works as a rescue service under Hamas authority.

Agency spokesman Mahmoud Basal told AFP the building had sustained structural damage from Israeli strikes.

He said that the bodies of “20 martyrs have been recovered from the rubble of a building that collapsed… Among the dead are five infants, while dozens of people remain trapped beneath the debris.”

The building was hit multiple times in 2024 and March 2025, leading to warnings for Gazans not to go back, he added.

“They have no other choice. With neither tents nor homes available, they are living in cracked, damaged buildings despite the risk of collapse,” Basal said.

The vast majority of structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed during the war, according to the United........

© The Times of Israel