A seven-story apartment building in the Gaza Strip that was previously damaged by Israeli military airstrikes during the war has collapsed, causing a disaster that killed at least 20 people, including six children.

As rescue workers are forced to conduct rescue operations with their bare hands due to restrictions on bringing in heavy machinery, nearly 100 people are believed to be trapped under the rubble, meaning casualties are expected to rise further.

The Gaza Civil Defense announced that it has recovered the bodies of 20 people and found 14 injured individuals so far while searching the debris of the collapsed building in Gaza City on the 16th local time.

Raed Al-Dahshan, head of the Gaza City Civil Defense, said, "At least 10 households were living in the collapsed building," adding, "We can still hear people's voices from under the rubble, so we are not letting go of hope for rescuing survivors."

Footage from the scene shared on social media and other platforms shows rescue workers struggling to pull people out from beneath collapsed concrete walls, as well as a young girl wrapped in a blood-stained scarf being rescued.

Rescue operations are currently taking place under extremely poor conditions.

Alessandro Mrakic, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in the Gaza Strip, stated, "It is a tragic situation where heavy machinery is severely lacking, and people are literally digging through the debris with their bare hands."

Palestinian authorities and the United Nations point to Israel's strict controls on the entry of supplies into the Gaza Strip as the cause of the poor rescue environment.

Meanwhile, Israel counters that this is a necessary security measure to prevent armed groups such as Hamas from diverting equipment.

The problem is that displaced people in the Gaza Strip, suffering from a shortage of shelters, are living in such half-destroyed buildings despite the risk of collapse in order to escape the wind and rain.

According to Civil Defense estimates, there are about 2,000 buildings across the Gaza Strip where residents are living despite being damaged by bombings.

Mrakic expressed concern, saying, "There are about 400 buildings currently at immediate risk of collapse," and added, "Especially when rain begins to fall during the upcoming winter rainy season, the sequential collapse of these buildings will become a reality."

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)