Thousands of Palestinians participated Friday, November 18 in the funeral of the 21 victims of the fire which ravaged an apartment in the north of the Gaza Strip the day before, in circumstances still unclear.
Hamas, the ruling Islamist movement in the Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade, said fuel was stored in the three-story building in the Jabaliya refugee camp, without giving further details.
Seven children among the victims
According to Salah Abou Leila, director of Jabaliya hospital, at least seven children are among the 21 people who died in the fire, which firefighters managed to control in the evening. Fifteen people were injured. Wrapped in Palestinian flags, the 21 remains were carried through a compact crowd in the overcrowded Jabaliya camp to the cemetery in Beit Lahia, a neighboring town, AFP journalists noted.
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The sinister “reminds the world of the human drama experienced by Gaza under blockade” devoid ofways to deal with firesHamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday.
Israel, which has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza since 2007, said it would allow the passage of injured people through the Erez checkpoint, but it was not immediately clear whether victims of the fire had left of the enclave after the incident.
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Controlled by Hamas since 2007, the Gaza Strip is an impoverished micro-territory of some 2.3 million Palestinians. With electricity supplies scarce, house fires are common in the enclave as residents seek alternative means of cooking and lighting, including kerosene lamps.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the occupied West Bank and has no authority in Gaza, declared a day of “National mourning“, according to his spokesperson.
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