Ammon News - After Israeli forces destroyed nearly 70 percent of Gaza’s residential sector, thousands of residents are forced to return to damaged and partially collapsed homes due to lack of alternatives. Authorities and specialists continue to warn about the risks, as cases of death from collapsing houses have been recorded.

In Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, 72-year-old Jamal Eid returned to his damaged home after several forced displacements over the past two years. Despite being fully aware of the dangers, he chose to make it his residence.

Eid described his home as full of hazards, with hanging and warped concrete columns, gaps in the ceilings, cracked and deteriorated walls, and parts of the first and second floors at risk of collapse.

Despite the risks, he decided to stay with the remaining members of his family after seven relatives were killed in separate strikes on his home and his family house on December 28, 2023, and August 14, 2024.

“After the harsh experience of displacement and seeing the humiliation and hardship of life in tents, I decided not to return there,” Eid said, explaining that as a retired person with no income, he could not afford to rent a place and had used up his savings over two years of war.

He acknowledged the danger of his home collapsing but said he had taken precautions, consulting engineers who warned him against living there. He reinforced the building with about 40 iron props to support columns and ceilings—measures that reduce risk but do not eliminate it.

Structural engineer Kamal Matar explained that building collapses are caused by multiple factors, primarily the destruction of main columns that disrupt weight distribution, making collapse inevitable.

Matar added that structural imbalance leaves buildings vulnerable to falling due to nearby bombardments, soil property changes from increased winter moisture, or even strong winds. He described these homes as “similar to mass graves” and stressed that people should not return without consulting specialists.

During two recent weather storms, 19 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed when their homes collapsed. During an interview with WAFA, an explosion from an airstrike east of Al-Maghazi camp shook Eid’s house. “This is one of the risks we live with,” he said.

Eid’s house currently shelters ten people, including him and his wife on the first floor, while other family members occupy the third and fourth floors. The second floor remains empty and unfit for habitation. Eid has covered the first floor with wooden boards and plastic sheets, through which rainwater seeps, and wind intensifies the cold, with temperatures dropping to 10 degrees Celsius.

In Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, a house belonging to the Lubbad family collapsed recently, killing five residents, including two women and a child, on December 20.

Mohammed Lubbad, a relative, said about 20 people were inside the house when it collapsed. Five were killed, while others survived or were rescued from the rubble. The home had sustained previous damage, likely from missile strikes or explosions caused by armored vehicles during the recent Israeli offensive.

Neighbor and eyewitness Ramez Dalou said he heard a loud explosion, followed by falling debris and streets filled with dust, discovering later that the four-story Lubbad house had collapsed on its occupants. Volunteers and neighbors managed to rescue several trapped residents.

Rescue teams reported that 18 buildings have completely collapsed, while 110 suffered partial collapse since the beginning of this month’s storms.

In a related development, Japan and several European countries announced on Tuesday that about 1.3 million people in Gaza urgently need shelter.

A joint statement from the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom said civilians in Gaza face dire humanitarian conditions due to heavy rains and falling temperatures, emphasizing the urgent need for housing support.

WAFA