Refugee camp fire kills at least 21 people

A fire that broke out on Thursday evening, local time, in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 21 people, the territory’s Hamas rulers said, in one of the deadliest incidents in recent years outside the violence stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The blaze erupted on the third floor of a three-storey building in the crowded Jabaliya refugee camp, according to the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The civil defence in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, attributed the cause of the fire to gasoline that was being stored in the building. It was not immediately clear how the gasoline ignited. Officials said an investigation was under way. Flames were seen spewing out of the windows of the burning floor as hundreds of people gathered outside on the street, waiting for fire trucks and ambulances.