Five Palestinians, including women and children, were killed and others injured when a house collapsed in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of northern Gaza City, according to Gaza’s Civil Defence, highlighting the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the enclave.
Civil Defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said the house had been damaged in an earlier Israeli strike during the war and was no longer structurally safe. However, the family had returned due to the severe shortage of alternative shelter. Heavy rain and strong winds from a recent weather system caused the weakened structure to collapse, trapping residents beneath the rubble.
Basal said all five victims belonged to the same family: a man, his wife, two daughters and a young child. Rescue teams worked for around seven hours using limited equipment, managing to pull five other family members alive from the debris and transfer them to hospital.
Gaza’s interior ministry warned that the risk of further building collapses is increasing, saying 18 people have been killed since the ceasefire began in incidents involving 46 damaged structures. It said winter conditions have heightened the danger, while Israel continues to block reconstruction materials and the entry of temporary housing.
The ministry urged the international community to act urgently to allow reconstruction supplies and emergency shelters into Gaza, warning that delays are forcing hundreds of thousands of people into life-threatening conditions. Many residents, it said, have been compelled to live in unstable buildings to avoid the harsh conditions in tent camps that offer little protection from cold and rain.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the collapse of bomb-damaged buildings reflected a deepening humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s blockade and restrictions on reconstruction. He also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire through continued attacks, including reported killings earlier on Tuesday in Gaza City’s Shuja’iyya district, despite international talks on moving towards a second phase of the truce.
Qassem called on mediators to take serious steps to halt what he described as violations and to pressure Israel to begin a genuine reconstruction process, warning that civilians continue to die not only from military strikes but also from collapsing buildings, flooding tents and exposure to cold amid severe shortages of heating supplies.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s health ministry warned of a critical depletion of medical supplies, issuing an urgent appeal to preserve what remains of the health system. In a news conference, the ministry said two years of war and a tight blockade have severely weakened healthcare services, leading to acute shortages of medicines, medical consumables and laboratory materials.
It warned that any delay in replenishing drug stocks would push remaining health services closer to total collapse and paralyse what is left of medical care in the territory.
Separately, medical sources said an Israeli sniper shot and killed a woman after opening fire on a residential building in the Tuffah neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City, while four other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire near Yaffa Street in the same area.
