A fire in a building in the Gaza Strip on Thursday has killed 21 people.
According to the British news agency Reuters, health and civil emergency officials have said that at least 21 people have been killed and many injured in the fire so far.
A fire engulfed the top floor of a four-story residential building in the Ganjanabad Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to officials.
It took more than an hour for firefighters to control the blaze.
Ambulances transported many of the injured to local hospitals while Israel, which has blockaded Gaza along with Egypt, said it would allow treatment for those who needed medical attention.
Eyewitnesses said they could hear screams but could not help those inside (the building) due to the intensity of the fire.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced a day of mourning, calling the incident a "national tragedy".
The Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hussein al-Sheikh, said in a statement that "the Palestinian Authority has urged Israel to open the Erez crossing with Gaza so that more wounded people can leave the enclave if necessary." can be taken out.'
He wrote on his Twitter account that the President has given instructions to provide all kinds of medical assistance immediately.
In his Twitter post, the UN peace envoy for the Middle East expressed his "heartfelt condolences" to the families of those killed in the incident.
Jabalia is one of eight refugee camps in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people and one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
