At least ten people were killed and 60 others injured on Thursday when a series of explosions followed by a massive fire swept through a crowded market in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp, located in central Gaza, health officials said.
Six children were reportedly among the dead, the Gaza health ministry said, adding that 14 of the injured are in critical condition.
The number of dead and injured is expected to rise as the camp’s residents and civil defense workers are still removing massive wreckage created by the explosion.
Initial reports, citing Gaza’s interior ministry, said that the fire was likely caused by a gas leak inside one of the bakeries which caused several cooking gas canisters to explode at a rapid speed.
Nuseirat Refugee Camp has been a site of repeated tragedies in recent years, as it was one of the main areas targeted by the Israeli army during the 2014 war on the Gaza Strip, leaving many killed and wounded.
The camp has not fully recovered from the damage inflicted by the Israel war and is struggling with unprecedented unemployment rates and rampant poverty.
The massive destruction created by the fire will certainly contribute to the camp’s many economic woes.
These are the names of those killed in the fire, provided by al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah.
– Ziad Husain
– Salwa Hamdan
– Laian Husain
– Manal Husain
– Salin Eid
– Renad Eid
– Lin Hamdan
– Iman Husain
– Udai Abu Yousef
– Unidentified child
(All Photos are by Gaza-based photojournalist, Fawzi Mahmoud)
(The Palestine Chronicle)
