Gaza Herald — A severe shortage of heavy rescue equipment is hampering efforts to reach Palestinians trapped beneath the rubble of the Sadaqa residential building, which recently collapsed in the al-Sinaa area of southwestern Gaza City, according to the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared.
The Center said the collapse killed 12 Palestinians and injured 25 others, while around 100 people were reported missing or trapped beneath the rubble and near surrounding tents.
According to the Center, the building had suffered cracks and structural damage from previous Israeli bombardment. Displaced Palestinians had nevertheless sought shelter inside because of the severe shortage of safe housing across the devastated Gaza Strip.
The Center linked the disaster to the widespread destruction of Gaza’s housing stock and the displacement of its population, which it said have forced families to live in damaged and structurally unsafe buildings.
The collapse has also renewed attention on thousands of Palestinians still missing beneath Gaza’s rubble. Recent estimates from the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared put the overall number of missing Palestinians at around 7,000, with between 4,000 and 5,000 believed to remain beneath destroyed buildings.
Recovery efforts have been severely constrained by shortages of heavy machinery, specialised equipment and engineering resources needed to search collapsed structures and recover bodies.
The Center also warned of the danger posed by approximately 2,000 damaged homes and buildings considered at risk of collapse, particularly as winter approaches and rainfall could further weaken already damaged structures.
It called on the international community and UN agencies to press for the immediate entry of heavy machinery and specialised rescue equipment needed by Civil Defense and municipal crews.
The Center also called for urgent engineering assessments of buildings at risk of collapse and for safe alternative shelter to be provided to displaced families currently living in damaged structures.
For thousands of Palestinian families, the shortage of rescue equipment has consequences extending far beyond individual building collapses. Across Gaza, destroyed buildings remain both the last known locations of missing Palestinians and, in many cases, inaccessible burial sites for those whose bodies have yet to be recovered.
