Al-Jazeera correspondent in the Gaza Strip quoted a medical source as saying that 21 people were killed in a fire that broke out today, Thursday, in a residential building in Tal al-Zaatar area in Jabalia camp, in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Anadolu Agency quoted a medical source as saying that among the dead were children and women. Health and civil defense officials in the sector said that the fire injured a number of people inside the building where the residents were attending a party.
Eyewitnesses stated that they heard screams but were unable to reach the victims to provide assistance due to the intensity of the fire.
Local sources in Gaza reported that the fire broke out in the house of the Abu Raya family, which consists of several floors, and was concentrated on the third floor of it.
"We pulled out many bodies and transferred the injured to the Indonesian Hospital," said an official at the Civil Defense in Gaza, in press statements, adding that the Civil Defense "made great efforts to put out the fire, but our capabilities are very modest."
The spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, Iyad Al-Bozom, said in a statement that the initial investigations indicated that "benzene was stored inside the house, which led to a massive fire outbreak and a number of deaths."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared mourning, and ordered flags to be flown at half mast for one day of mourning for the lives of the victims of the Jabalia camp fire.