JABALIA (AFP/Al Jazeera) – Thousands of Palestinians turned out Friday for the funeral of 21 people who died in a Gaza Strip apartment building fire, an AFP correspondent said.
At least seven children were among the dead in the blaze at Jabalia Palestinian refugee camp on Thursday night, said the head of the Indonesian Hospital there, Saleh Abu Lai.
Mourners carried the coffins, draped in Palestinian flags, through crowds in the camp toward Beit Lahia cemetery for burial.
At least 21 people were killed and several others injured after a fire ripped through the residential building in the densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, according to local sources.
Ambulances rushed several injured people to local hospitals, and the one run by the occupying regime, which together with Egypt maintains a blockade on Gaza.
The Palestinian WAFA news agency reported that several children were among the dead.
Gaza’s Interior Ministry said an initial investigation revealed that large amounts of gasoline had been stored at the site, fueling the blaze that quickly engulfed the building.
It took firefighters more than an hour to get control of the massive flames that burst through the top floor of a four-story residential building. Witnesses said they could hear screaming but could not help those trapped inside because of the intensity of the fire.
Hamas resistance movement, which governs Gaza, said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the fire.
“It’s a tragic incident. Many of the victims haven’t yet been identified as they have been burnt badly,” Al Jazeera correspondent Youmna ElSayed, reporting from Gaza, said.
She said candles lit during a birthday celebration caused the fire. “When candles were lit up, a fire quickly erupted and an explosion took place,” she said.
The civil defence services in the city are not adequately equipped to tackle such emergencies effectively, Al Jazeera’s ElSayed said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called it a national tragedy and said there would be a day of mourning.
Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said in a statement that the Palestinian Authority urged the Zionist regime to open the Erez crossing with Gaza to transport serious cases in order to treat them outside the besieged enclave if necessary.
Jabalia is one of eight refugee camps in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people and one of the world’s most densely populated areas. The enclave has been under an air, sea and land blockade imposed by the Zionist regime since 2007.
“The President gave instructions to provide all forms of medical and other assistance urgently,” al-Sheikh said on Twitter.
UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, tweeted that it was “deeply saddened by the tragic death of 21 people” in the fire and expressed its “deepest condolences to families and the community”.