The Israeli commander assisting with the rescue operation at Surfside said that more bodies and tunnels were discovered overnight

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Search and rescue teams search for potential survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story South Champlain Towers apartment building on June 29, in Surfside, Florida. Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images

Rescue teams are entering their seventh day of searching the ruins of a collapsed building in Surfside, Florida – and they’re still hoping to find 149 people missing.

“I can tell you that none of us have given up hope,” said Miami-Dade Rescue Team Leader Eddie Alarcon. “We’re going to walk into that pile and start banging away and slashing away in hopes that we can find someone…We always pray for someone to be alive, but at least that gives some closure to families waiting to listen to loved ones” .

The apartment building, South Champlain Towers, partially collapsed in the middle of Thursday night as many residents were sleeping. Currently, 125 people have been reported and 12 confirmed deaths.

Colonel Golan Fach, commander of the Israeli National Rescue Unit, said US and international teams are searching for bedrooms buried under 13 to 16 feet of concrete.

“There is still hope,” Fach told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “Up to a week, I have a strong hope that we will find someone. After one week, it is simple.”

Alarcon said he has no idea how long the rescue and recovery efforts will take, especially given that the round-the-clock work has barely scratched the surface of debris removal. But he said the crews were motivated by an understanding of the families’ perspective.

“What should I do? How hard would it be to work to save our family members if something like this happened?” CNN’s Anderson Cooper told. “I just want (the families) to know that we’re doing everything we can.”

Many in the community are looking for ways they can help those affected as well.

More than $1.9 million has been raised to help those affected as of Tuesday, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said, and some of that donation to SupportSurfside.org has already been distributed to at least a dozen families in need and a handful of nonprofits.

The tennis center in the building has been changed. Now, it serves as a respite for first responders, adorning the walls with flowers and pictures to commemorate those who lost their fate and the 12 who died.

Babysitter Laura Hernandez used to spend hours in that court with Graciela Cattarossi while her daughter Stella was playing with the Henandez babysitter, she told WSVN affiliate CNN. Both were reported missing, along with her parents and sister.

“In September I’ll be back with the kids, but Stella and Grace won’t be there. It makes my heart break,” Hernandez told the station.

Those who survived the collapse told harrowing stories of their escape.

Eliana Montegodo, 64, woke up in the middle of the night on Thursday to a strange sound. Then she saw a crack creeping through her wall.

She ran barefoot from her sixth-floor unit down the stairs, heard a thunderous noise and climbed up several walls as she darted toward safety, according to CNN affiliate WPLG.

“I started going down quickly, and I heard a crack, a crack, a crack,” she said. “I start screaming, Come on God, I want to see my son, I want to see my grandson. Don’t let me die in this state.”

As soon as she got out, she called her son to tell him that she was fine, but that the building behind her had collapsed.

“Three seconds separate me from life to death. Three seconds,” she told the station.

Sarah Nir’s daughter was going to shower and her son was busy when Nir heard what sounded like a building noise at about 1:10am, she went to talk to the security guard about the noise at night but was interrupted by a big bang and the garage collapse.

She told CNN that she ran back to take her family, and they ran away together. Two loud beeps later and all they could see were white clouds of dust.

Neighbors drag Esther Gurfinkel, 88, out of the building as she slowly heads down the stairs.

When she told Albert Aguero, the man who bore her, that she lived to be 88 and did not need rescuing, he told her “No, you’re going to make it to your 89th birthday.” WPLG affiliate.

“I saw the sky,” said Gurfinkel. “I knew I would be safe.”

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