Rescuers warn Gaza residents against sheltering in war-damaged buildings after collapse
Gaza’s Civil Defence has called on residents to avoid staying in buildings that have been damaged by Israeli bombings after one building suddenly collapsed on Palestinians in Gaza City.
In a statement, the rescue service said that while the citizens survived the building’s collapse on al-Sina’a Street in Tal al-Hawa in southwestern Gaza City, it warned of the “great danger” of staying in buildings that had been targeted, especially as the weather gets colder and rains arrive.
“In this context, the Directorate [of Civil Defence] called on displaced citizens, especially in shelters and tents, to fortify their tents and ensure they are firmly secured and that ropes and pegs are reinforced, especially those close to the beach,” it said.
“The Directorate also called on the displaced to place plastic (nylon) covers over their tents to prevent rainwater from seeping into them, and to build channels around the tents to drain water and prevent it from flowing inside,” the statement read.
UNRWA says its ‘presence remains vital’ for Gaza
In a statement on X, the UN’s refugee agency for the Palestinians has reminded the International Court of Justice recognised the fact that “no organisation can replace the UNRWA’s role in supporting the people of Gaza”.
UNRWA’s presence remains vital to meeting urgent humanitarian needs across the occupied Palestinian territory, the statement said.
As we reported earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Gaza would be demilitarised and Hamas would have no role in governing a future Gaza. He repeated an Israeli government line, discredited just days ago by the International Court of Justice, that the UNRWA, is a “subsidiary of Hamas”.
The International Court of Justice recognised that no organisation can replace UNRWA’s role in supporting the people of #Gaza.
UNRWA’s presence remains vital to meeting urgent humanitarian needs across the occupied Palestinian territory. pic.twitter.com/YOSNRFaRw2
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) October 24, 2025
US taking Israeli claims against UNRWA at ‘face value’
This UN agency, which was exonerated by the International Court of Justice and by two separate independent committees of inquiry, has the largest and most extensive aid mechanism in Gaza.
It has thousands of employees, and it has the data to distribute aid to Palestinians with dignity in an orderly fashion.
Nobody has that kind of infrastructure and history in Gaza, and so for the US to take at face value Israel’s uncorroborated claims will have a direct impact on the ability of even the United Nations to distribute aid to people in Gaza.
That’s what we’ve seen in reactions from the UN, from UNRWA itself, immediately after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statements of dismay and shock.
This is devastating. UNRWA has 6,000 trucks of aid waiting at the border to come into Gaza, and that statement would probably mean that they will not be able to bring them in.
Civil defence teams rebury bodies of Palestinian family in Gaza City
Civil defence members carry body bags containing the remains of members of the Shahebar family who were buried in temporary graves, as they are brought for burial to the Sheikh Shaban Cemetery, in Gaza City
