Palestine News Today: Gaza Building Collapse Kills 21, Including 12 Children
16 September 2026. Your daily round-up of the most important news about Palestine, compiled from international and regional sources. Today: a war-damaged apartment block collapses in Gaza City, a schoolboy and a paramedic are killed in a strike, Egypt rejects displacement, and the UN chief calls for an end to West Bank annexation. Below, each story in brief, with links to the reporting it is based on.
Apartment Block Collapses in Gaza City, Killing 21
A six-storey building damaged in earlier Israeli strikes collapsed before dawn in Gaza City's Tal al-Hawa area, killing 21 people, including 12 children, according to the Civil Defence and the UN. Displaced families had been sheltering inside, and rescuers said they lacked heavy machinery to reach those trapped.
Sources: Al Jazeera, OCHA
'Double-Tap' Strike Kills Schoolboy and Paramedic
An Israeli drone strike in Gaza City's Sheikh Radwan area killed a 15-year-old boy returning from school and a paramedic who came to help, Al Jazeera reports.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Egypt Rejects Displacement of Palestinians
Meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reaffirmed Egypt's firm opposition to the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, Wafa news agency reported.
Sources: Al Jazeera
UN Chief: 'Creeping Annexation' of the West Bank Must Stop
Speaking in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the Gaza peace plan must be fully implemented with unrestricted aid, that the creeping annexation of the West Bank must stop, and that there can be no peace without a two-state solution.
Sources: OCHA
UN Warns Over Remains in Gaza's Rubble
UN human rights chief Volker Türk criticised the way rubble is being cleared in Gaza as extensive human remains are found, warning that evidence of war crimes may be destroyed or concealed.
Sources: Al Jazeera
B'Tselem: Settler Violence Aims to Eliminate Palestinian Existence
Israeli rights group B'Tselem says violence, movement restrictions, economic control and land seizures in the occupied West Bank form a deliberate campaign to dismantle Palestinian society.
Sources: Al Jazeera
Three Families Cut Off in Qusra
In Qusra, three Palestinian families have been largely isolated for more than five weeks since a settlement outpost was set up nearby, with restrictions limiting access to school and aid.
Sources: OCHA
The Bigger Picture
The truce agreed in October 2025 stopped the full-scale offensive but not the killing. Attacks have continued, and restrictions on what can enter Gaza still block any meaningful reconstruction. Gaza's health ministry puts the death toll since October 2023 at more than 73,900, with over 174,000 wounded. More than 1,300 of those deaths have come since the ceasefire began.
Sources: Al Jazeera, OCHA
The West Bank has seen its own escalation. UN figures show 275 Palestinian communities affected by settler attacks in 2026, close to last year's record of 279 and the highest since monitoring started in 2006. More than 1,100 Palestinian structures have been demolished this year for lacking building permits, displacing over 1,500 people, more than a third of the 4,300 Palestinians displaced in the West Bank in 2026. Almost every school in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed, and with more than 90 per cent of buildings in ruins, people are living in structures that engineers warn could come down.
Sources: OCHA
Aid agencies warn that the shortages are now structural rather than temporary: without heavy machinery, fuel and engine oil, rubble cannot be cleared, water networks cannot be repaired, and search and rescue work is slowed for days. At the United Nations, the two-state solution remains the stated goal of the Secretary-General and most member states, even as settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank continues and Palestinian officials describe it as creeping annexation.
Sources: OCHA
Palestine News is published every day on Free Palestine Store. Each item summarises reporting from the named outlets in our own words; follow the source links for full coverage.
