According to Palestinian media reports, at least 22 people died in a house fire in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
APA/AFP/Mahmud Hams
As the WAFA news agency reported this evening, several children were said to be among the dead. Several people were injured. The fire started in an apartment in Jabalia and spread to the rest of the building.
Ministry of the Interior: Fuel stored in building
According to the Ministry of Interior in Gaza, according to initial findings, large amounts of fuel would have been stored in the building. The investigation into the cause of the fire continued. Eyewitnesses reported that a party was going on in the building when the fire started. Videos showed how several emergency services tried to extinguish the flames.
According to his adviser, Hussein al-Sheikh, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a day of mourning “on which flags will be flown at half-mast in all official places”.
Tens of thousands of people in one and a half square kilometers
Jabalia is the largest refugee camp in the Gaza Strip and was created in 1950. Today, over 110,000 registered refugees live there in just under a square kilometer.
Around 2.2 million people live on the coastal strip in very precarious conditions. According to the UN Office of Emergency Relief (OCHA), more than 60% of residents depend on emergency supplies.
Drinking water is scarce, electricity is only available for a few hours a day. Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, violently seized power in the Mediterranean coastal strip in 2007. Israel then tightened its blockade of the area, backed by Egypt.