By Ingrid "Shortwave" Frost
Rescue workers in Gaza City spent Wednesday clawing through concrete and twisted rebar after a residential building collapsed, killing at least 10 Palestinians. Up to 70 more people are believed missing, according to Al Jazeera, which reported that six families were feared trapped beneath the wreckage.
Witnesses described cries for help echoing from under the rubble as crews worked without heavy machinery in short supply after nearly two years of war. The cause of the collapse was not established in the reporting available to this desk, and no party had claimed responsibility for any strike as of filing.
The collapse adds to a grim toll in a territory where infrastructure — hospitals, water systems, apartment blocks — has been battered by sustained bombardment. This account relies on wire reporting from Al Jazeera; casualty figures in active disaster zones often shift as rescue efforts continue, and this desk could not independently verify final numbers.
The disaster comes as the Trump administration presses ahead with a separate $2.8 billion sale of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, a deal Al Jazeera reports has drawn criticism over the targeting of civilian areas in the territory. The available reporting does not establish any direct link between the two developments — only that they are unfolding in the same week, in the same war.
For families in Gaza City, survival keeps getting harder. A building falls. People are still under it. The rest of the world argues about bombs.
FILED FROM SOMEWHERE WITH BAD COFFEE —
— Compiled from reporting by Al Jazeera.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."