At least five people, including four women, have been killed and six others injured in an Israeli air strike on a residential building in Gaza City, according to hospital officials and rescue workers cited in reports from the area.
The strike took place in the early hours of Saturday, 3 October, in the Remal district of Gaza City. The target was an apartment inside the Al-Asala building. Reports said there was no prior warning before the strike.
Remal is one of Gaza City’s densely populated residential areas. Like many parts of the Gaza Strip, it has also become a place of refuge for people displaced by the conflict, with large numbers of civilians staying in residential buildings and temporary shelters.
Hani al-Shaer, an Al Jazeera correspondent reporting from Khan Younis, said the strikes occurred late at night while local residents were asleep. According to his account, residents first heard the sound of warplanes before three missiles struck the apartment.
The impact completely destroyed the targeted apartment and caused extensive damage to the lower floors of the building. A fire broke out following the strikes, prompting Palestinian Civil Defence teams to rush to the scene. Rescue workers reportedly spent about an hour trying to bring the blaze under control.
Once the fire was contained, Civil Defence personnel began searching through the rubble for people who might have been trapped beneath the collapsed structure. The operation took place in difficult circumstances, with rescue workers dealing with a severely damaged building and continuing military activity in the area.
According to the report, Israeli drones remained visible in the sky while low-flying military aircraft were also heard or seen over the area during the rescue operation. The presence of aircraft and drones added to the difficulties faced by emergency crews attempting to reach those trapped in the wreckage.
Al-Shifa Hospital officials confirmed that four of the five people killed were women. Among them were an elderly Christian woman and her daughter. The six injured people were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment. No further details about the severity of their injuries were immediately available.
The latest strike adds to the continuing toll on civilians in Gaza, where densely populated neighbourhoods have repeatedly been affected by military operations. The concentration of displaced people in residential areas has increased the risks for civilians when buildings are damaged or destroyed.
The incident also highlights the challenges facing emergency services in Gaza. Rescue teams frequently have to work among damaged structures and rubble while attempting to locate survivors and provide urgent assistance to the wounded.
Details of the identities of all those killed and injured, as well as the full extent of the damage, were not immediately available. The circumstances surrounding the strike, including the intended target and the reasons for the attack, could not be independently established from the information available in the report.
As rescue and medical teams continued dealing with the aftermath, the deaths in Remal added to the humanitarian burden faced by civilians living in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict.
