‘Nowhere to go’: Gaza’s damaged buildings turn deadly

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Leaning heavily on the arm of a relative, Hayat al-Ajlah moves slowly between the hospital beds, scanning the faces of the injured.

Hayat has not seen her since they were pulled from beneath the rubble of the al-Saada building in western Gaza City early on Wednesday, when the war-damaged structure collapsed over their heads.

“I woke up to check my phone,” the 37-year-old Hayat said. “Suddenly, I heard a sound like something cracking. It felt like something was falling from underneath us.”

Moments later, the building came down, killing at least 21 Palestinians .

Hayat found herself trapped beneath the rubble, surrounded by dust and darkness, with family members screaming for help.

“I heard my 74-year-old father calling for my 12-year-old son Yasser. ‘Yasser, Yasser,’ he was calling, and then his voice disappeared,” she said. “I panicked and started screaming for my four children.

For nearly an hour, neighbours and civil defence workers worked to pull Hayat, her children and some of the other residents from the rubble. But Hayat knew that others were trapped deeper inside the building.

“My father and mother’s voices disappeared because they were in the part where the floors collapsed on top of each other,” she said through tears. “We were closer to the side of the building that tilted, so we survived by a miracle.”