DaysofPal – Five Palestinians were killed early Sunday morning after a residential building belonging to the Labad family collapsed in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City, amid harsh weather conditions caused by a recent low-pressure system.
Local sources reported that the collapse resulted in the deaths of five residents, while three others remain missing beneath the rubble. The building gave way due to structural damage compounded by heavy rainfall and strong winds.
In a statement, Gaza’s Civil Defense said its rescue teams worked continuously for seven hours in difficult conditions in an attempt to save all those trapped under the debris.
The victims were identified as Mohammed Saeed Ahmed Labad; his wife, Rania Mohammed Labad; their 17-year-old daughter, Sondos; Iman Labad, the wife of the late Akram Labad; and her daughter, Jana Akram Mohammed Labad.
The Civil Defense confirmed that five bodies were recovered and transferred to hospitals, while the dangerous conditions at the site have so far prevented access to three missing individuals.
The incident comes a day after two other buildings in Gaza City, previously damaged by Israeli airstrikes, collapsed. Civil Defense crews reported that residents of the seven-story Al-Awda 6 tower in the Tel al-Hawa area, southwest of Gaza City, had been safely evacuated after severe cracks and partial collapses occurred on the upper four floors. No injuries were reported in that incident.
In response to the growing danger, the Engineers’ Syndicate in Gaza has launched an initiative to provide technical consultations to residents, helping them assess homes that were previously damaged or are at risk of collapse following recent building failures triggered by the weather system.
Since the beginning of the month, Gaza has witnessed multiple building collapses linked to successive weather depressions. Many of the affected homes had sustained damage from earlier Israeli bombardments, leaving them vulnerable to heavy rain and strong winds. These incidents have resulted in several deaths and injuries across the besieged territory.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, backed by the United States and several European countries, has carried out a genocidal campaign in the Gaza Strip, involving widespread killing, starvation, destruction, displacement, and mass arrests, in defiance of international appeals and rulings by the International Court of Justice calling for an end to the violence.
The ongoing assault has left more than 242,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them women and children, with over 11,000 people still missing. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, famine has claimed countless lives, particularly among children, and large swaths of Gaza’s cities and neighborhoods have been reduced to rubble.
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