By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Alkas
CAIRO/GAZA, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Gaza rescuers wrapped up searches on Thursday in the rubble of a bomb-damaged building that collapsed a day earlier, where 21 people were killed and 45 rescued from under the rubble, a Palestinian official said.
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Nearly a year since a ceasefire ended major fighting in Gaza, reconstruction of the devastated territory has yet to begin. Most buildings were completely destroyed by Israeli airstrikes or bulldozed by Israeli forces, and nearly all of the rest have suffered damage.
The population of more than 2 million lives confined to a third of the enclave’s territory, mainly housed in makeshift tents or in overcrowded rooms in damaged buildings.
Bulldozers were at work at the site on Thursday, removing rubble to prepare the ground for tents, where survivors from among more than 110 people who had been living in the building could be housed. Residents sifted through the rubble picking up belongings, including food.
“We were in shock from the scene we witnessed. Imagine seeing your family members under the rubble — some of them (torn to) pieces, others killed,” said Nader El-Ejlah, a survivor who said several of his relatives were killed in the collapse.
El-Ejlah said the family had moved into the damaged building because they could not find any other shelter. Unless a solution is found to provide displaced people with new shelters, the collapse would not be the last, he said.
“We have lost our family, there are still people (whose fate is) unknown to this day. There are several buildings in Gaza, until now, that are on the verge of collapse,” he said.
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Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense Service in Gaza, told Reuters there were eight children among the dead, and around half of the wounded were also children.
“We don’t have the needed equipment. Despite that, rescue teams did a heroic job and rescued 45 people from under the rubble and moved them to hospitals for treatment,” Basal told Reuters by phone from Gaza.
Palestinian and U.N. officials blame Israel’s restrictions on Gaza for the lack of heavy machinery to clear rubble and rebuild homes. Israel says its curbs aim to keep equipment out of the hands of militants.
Palestinian authorities say more than 73,000 people were killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, which was launched after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people in an attack on southern Israel in October 2023.
A US-brokered ceasefire agreed last year calls for eventual reconstruction of the territory, but there has been little progress while negotiators have failed to agree conditions for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw its troops.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Dawoud Abu Alkas in GazaWriting by Nidal al-MughrabiEditing by Peter Graff)
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