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21 Killed in Fast-Moving Gaza Fire in Jabaliya Neighborhood


JERUSALEM — A festive family gathering in the Gaza Strip to celebrate birthdays and graduations turned deadly on Thursday night, when a fire broke out and engulfed a multi-story building, killing all All 21 people were at the party, an official said.

The fire, in the northern Gaza neighborhood of Jabaliya, was one of the deadliest episodes in Gaza in recent memory beyond the violence from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Gaza Interior Ministry said gasoline stored inside the apartment where the victims were celebrating sparked the fire and caused the death toll to soar. An investigation is underway into the cause of the fire.

Iyad al-Bazim, a spokesman for the ministry, said: “Preliminary investigations show that storing a large amount of gasoline inside the burning house contributed to the escalation of the fire and caused the death toll such as so”.

The family gathered at the third-floor apartment of retired physiotherapist Dr Faraj Abu Raya to celebrate the graduation of his son, who received his doctorate from a university in Cairo, said Dr. Medhat Abbas, spokesman for the Ministry of Health. and a friend of Dr. Abu Raya.

Dr Abu Raya and his son, Maher Faraj Abu Raya, who had returned to Gaza from Egypt hours before the party, were among the 21 killed.

Dr Abbas said: “All of them are dead.

The Gaza Health Ministry initially placed all hospitals in the area on alert to be ready to receive those injured by the fire. But a few hours later, it announced that no one was injured.

Video from the scene shows firefighters battling the blaze that has engulfed the entire building. They tried to prevent the fire from spreading to nearby buildings.

A longtime family neighbor, Husam Ali, 30, said he was returning home when he saw fire coming from the window and heard screams. He and other neighbors tried to enter the apartment building, but the metal front door was locked, he said.

Using a metal tool, they banged on the door for nearly 30 minutes until breaking in and running up to the third floor. There, Ali said, they found another locked door and took another 30 minutes to break in. But the heat from the fire was too intense and they ran back outside and waited for the Fire Department, he said.

When he got out, Mr Ali said he saw a woman and two children on the floor where the fire broke out, clinging to metal bars covering the windows of the burning building. Metal bars on windows are common throughout Gaza as a safety measure to prevent children from falling out.

An 18-year-old resident in the neighborhood said the woman was clutching her mobile phone with one hand and repeatedly shouting: “Help us! Save us!”

As the fire raged, the woman and child lost their ability to cling to the bars and disappeared from view, the teen said. As a university student, he declined to be named because he was leaving Gaza and did not want trouble at the border.

Mr Ali said when the fire was out, he returned to the building and saw children lying under the windows and people piled on top of each other.

In a statement released by Abu Raya’s family, relatives of the dead said they received the news “with great sadness and grief”.

“We appreciate the immense sympathy shown by our respectable Palestinians from the very first moment of the tragedy, as our people tried to help put out the fires that broke out. inside the house and civil defense teams worked hard to put out the fire despite their weak abilities,” the statement said.

Officials from Hamas, the militant group that runs Gaza, said at a news conference that they hold Israel responsible for the deaths because of a 15-year blockade of the coastal enclave, which Hamas says that affected the speed at which firefighters were able to fight. fire. Israel’s blockade restricts or bans many items from entering Gaza, including some equipment and machinery.

The Israeli government did not immediately respond when asked about the allegation.

Gaza health care The system has also deteriorated under severe land, air and sea blockades by Israel and Egypt, restricting what can enter the impoverished land and limiting numbers among the roughly two million inhabitants. Its can leave. Patients requiring advanced care must seek treatment in the West Bank or occupied Israel, but special permission is required to cross the border north of Erez.

Following Thursday’s fire, the Palestinian Authority called on Israel to open its border crossing to transport critically injured patients outside the Gaza Strip if necessary.

A spokesman for Israel’s civil administration said on Thursday that Israel would help evacuate any injured residents across the border as needed.

At least 10 people were killed and 60 others were injured after a fire broke out at a market in central Gaza in March 2020. And in January 2013, a couple and their four young children died in a fire 12 hours after Palestinian power workers cut power to a building because tenants didn’t pay – one of a series of house fires, most of which started with candles.

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