ReportGaza Orders 255 Buildings Razed After Shelter Collapse Kills 21Aired September 23, 2026 at 8:33 AM UTCWritten September 23, 2026 at 8:37 AM UTCRead the write-upThis storyTranscript · LOADING0:11A six-story shelter crowded with children crumbled onto sleeping tents.0:15Twenty-one people died, most of them children, and more than 2,000 cracked buildings0:20still house families with nowhere else to go.0:23Can an order to empty and demolish 255 death traps work when machines, shelter, and0:28land are all missing?0:29The settled toll is 21 dead, 12 children, 5 women, 2 men, and 2 elderly people.0:3414 were injured, 10 seriously, and 45 were pulled alive from the rubble.0:39The Al Sada residential block in Tal al-Hawa in western Gaza City came down at about0:432 a.m.0:44on the 16th of September, falling onto nearby homes and tents where displaced0:48families were living.0:49Rescue lasted more than 15 hours into the 17th.0:52Early counts of 12 and 16 rose to 21 as bodies were recovered.0:56Three days later, the roof of another Gaza City building caved after rain and1:00lightly injured four children.1:02The fallen block stood six stories high with four apartments per floor on Industry1:06Street, also identified as Al Sina Street.1:09About 80 to 100 people were inside.1:11including about 50 children.1:13Tallies described six families trapped and 10 families living there despite warnings1:17it was unsafe.1:18The block had been weakened in the war with damage to its foundations and lower1:22floors in October 2023 and again in 2024 and March 2025.1:27Whether that first strike hit this exact building is contested and no independent1:32structural examination has been published.1:34Satellite assessment on June 16th found about 82% of all structures in the strip1:38damaged or destroyed 201,290 affected structures.1:42A joint housing assessment found 371,888 of1:46485,361 housing units destroyed or damaged, 76.6%.1:52Destruction climbed by nearly 10% since the October 2025 ceasefire, nearly a year on1:58with reconstruction stalled.2:00Early September reporting placed 1.98 million people, 94% of the population in need2:06of shelter and household items, with 58% in critical or catastrophic shelter2:10conditions.2:11and about 65,000 displaced people in 114 emergency shelters.2:15Surveys cited more than 80% needing new tents in some samples, and 72% staying in2:20damaged buildings in one assessment.2:22The collapsed site sits in Tal al-Hawa in western Gaza city, inside a strip-wide2:26zone of damage where families occupy known unsafe buildings for lack of2:30alternatives, with winter risk rising as rains load cracked concrete and saturated2:34ground.2:35Crews dug by hand for lack of heavy equipment, assisted by Gaza municipality teams2:40alongside Egyptian machinery and support linked to UNDP, ICRC, and Egyptian2:44responders.2:45The emergency request lists heavy machinery, specialized equipment, engine oil, fuel2:50plus tents, tarps, and household items within four weeks.2:53Egypt supplied machinery for the rescue.2:56The United Arab Emirates and Qatar pledged relief.2:59The Gaza Government Media Office announced the 255 building plan on September 20th,3:04reported the 21st.3:06The headline figure of 250 is a rounding of the announced 255.3:10The Ministry of Public Works and Housing leads the work with other ministries, local3:14authorities, and international and UN bodies.3:17Immediate steps are warning signs on dangerous structures, field assessments,3:20immediate evacuation by civil defense on calls from displaced people, and placement3:25in temporary shelter where any exists.3:27The plan covers evacuation before demolition because families are living inside and3:31beside cracked blocks with nowhere else to go.3:33Wider risk figures do not reconcile to a single list.3:36More than 2,000 occupied buildings face imminent risk of a similar collapse.3:40Other tallies in the same week classified about 3,000 buildings as dangerous or at3:44risk.3:44UNDP reporting flagged about 400 at imminent risk.3:48A Gaza city area count cited about Those are different slices and thresholds, not a3:52single audited register, and no breakdown of the 255 by neighborhood or demolition3:57date has been published, nor any count of how many have actually been demolished.4:01The first week of September alone saw collapses at five shelters, homes, or units in4:06larger buildings.4:07One tally cited 61 deaths in total across war damage structure collapses.4:12Beyond the Al Sada 21.4:14Demolition and shoring require heavy machinery, fuel, engine oil, construction4:19material, and transitional shelters that are restricted, with approval sought for4:22machines and specialized gear, with funding shortfalls with little vacant land for4:26relocation.4:27The constraints cited for the 255 are funding, blockade-limited machines, and lack4:32of land for temporary sites.4:34What remains is a clearance order without a clearance capacity and an evacuation4:38order without spare shelter.4:40More than 2,000 occupied damaged buildings face the same failure mode that killed 214:45in Tal al-Hawa.4:46Rains keep loading weakened frames and families stay inside known unsafe blocks4:50because tents, repair material, and machines cannot enter at scale, leaving the next4:54collapse a matter of time and weather while winter approaches.Explore with HeyDexFollow via RSSThe shortThe short ↗