Gaza’s buildings are collapsing on top of us. But there’s nowhere else to shelter
Ibtisam Mahdi writes in +972 on 13 October 2026:
Before I go to sleep, I always find myself asking the same questions: Will the structure of my home hold up through the night? Or will it collapse on top of me and my family, trapping us until we become nothing more than a passing news story — something that gets attention for a day and then disappears?
Those questions have been haunting me since Sept. 16, when I heard that Al-Saada Tower in Gaza City had collapsed, killing at least 21 Palestinians who were buried beneath the rubble.
That catastrophe exposed another emergency unfolding across Gaza. Israel damaged or destroyed 92 percent of the enclave’s housing units, but thousands of Palestinians are living in buildings that remain even partially standing because they have nowhere else to go. Walls are cracked, supporting columns have been decimated, and foundations weakened. And as winter approaches, rain, wind, and ongoing Israeli strikes are placing still more strain on already compromised structures.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the Al-Saada Tower disaster brings the total number of people killed in collapses of war-damaged buildings to 61, while around 270 others have been injured and nearly 5,000 families have been forced to leave homes that became unsafe.
Gaza’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing estimates that around 3,000 buildings are dangerous or at risk of caving in. But Israel has been denying the entry of heavy machinery into the besieged coastal enclave, and local authorities lack the materials and funding to secure safe housing for families who would have to leave as their homes are being rebuilt.
For me, the story of Al-Saada Tower was not simply another incident to follow as a journalist. I had already lived through the collapse of half the apartment where I still live today, in the Tel Al-Hawa area west of Gaza City.
One of the apartment’s main supporting columns had been damaged during the war, after an Israeli tank entered the neighborhood. At the time, I was displaced in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. But after we had returned, during a powerful storm in December 2025, half of the apartment crumbled while my family and I were inside. It remains one of the hardest experiences I have ever lived through, and its details return every time I hear about another house or building toppling over in Gaza.