The sky in the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza is grey with the aftermath of relentless Israeli ground attacks and aerial bombardment.

A fire breaks out in the middle of the street, littered with rubble. But that does not deter dozens of people from gathering at the site of a bombed building.

The crowd of men are attempting to rescue the survivors and retrieve the bodies of those killed in the three-storey Abu Musbih building bombed by Israel.

“We need stretchers,” shouts a man. “Someone, find us stretchers.”

Near him lies the lifeless body of a man, almost entirely covered by debris. He is pulled out by three men and taken on blankets being used as stretchers.

The attack on Tuesday afternoon struck the building when about 150 people were inside, most of them displaced families from other parts of Gaza.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, 45 people have been killed and at least 50 others wounded. Some of the dead remain buried under the rubble.

The injured were transported in civilian cars, tuk-tuks and ambulances to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Meanwhile, a representative of the World Health Organization in the Palestinian Territories said the situation in Gaza is “getting worse every hour” as Israel intensifies its bombing of the enclave’s southern areas.

“I want to make clear that we are facing a growing humanitarian catastrophe,” Rik Peeperkorn said.

More than 16,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli forces since October 7 and about 42,000 others wounded.