Gaza building collapse

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on September 15 that Israeli bulldozers continued to level areas of Gaza still under Israeli military control 'with no respect for the dead under the rubble,' as the discovery of what he called 'extensive' human remains -- many belonging to women, children and entire families -- heightened concerns that evidence of potential war crimes was being destroyed. Israel's war has generated roughly 61 million tonnes of wreckage, which the UN estimates could take seven years to clear; despite an October 2025 US-brokered ceasefire, Israeli strikes have continued, killing more than 1,300 Palestinians since the truce took effect. Palestinian Civil Defence has recovered more than 630 bodies and remains from beneath destroyed buildings since November 2025, while authorities estimate more than 8,000 people remain buried in the debris; on September 6, Palestinians in northern Gaza held funerals for about 100 people, including 60 children, whose remains had just been recovered. Turk reiterated concerns that Israel's use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas failed to adequately distinguish civilians from combatants.

The danger posed by damaged, unstable structures was underscored the following day when a multi-story residential building in Gaza City's Tal al-Hawa neighborhood -- previously struck and left structurally cracked in an earlier Israeli bombing, but still housing roughly 10 families despite safety warnings -- collapsed overnight, killing at least 12 people including several children, with dozens more feared trapped. Gaza's Civil Defence, working largely by hand due to Israeli restrictions on the entry of construction materials and heavy rescue equipment, pulled some survivors alive from the rubble, including young children, though children's cries could still be heard from beneath the debris as crews struggled to reach them; officials said thousands of war-damaged buildings across Gaza remain occupied and at risk of similar sudden collapse.