21 of family die in Gaza refugee camp inferno

Gaza Strip, November 18

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Twenty-one victims of a family were killed in a fire that tore through a top-floor apartment in the Gaza Strip during a birthday party, their relatives said on Friday.

Officials in Hamas-run Gaza have said the Thursday night’s blaze in a three-storey residential building in the Jabaliya refugee camp was apparently fuelled by stored gasoline. They said it was not clear how the gasoline ignited, and that an investigation is underway.

It was one of the deadliest incidents in Gaza in recent years outside the violence stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The blaze destroyed the top-floor apartment in the building, home to the Abu Raya family. Mohammed Abu Raya, a family member, said the extended family had gathered for twin celebrations — the birthday of one of the children and the return of one of the adults from a trip to Egypt.

Those killed were from three generations, a couple, their five sons and one daughter, two daughters-in-law and 11 grandchildren. — AP