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Traces of fire on the facade of the house near Jabalia
Photo: MOHAMMED SABER/EPA
A devastating fire during a family celebration in the Gaza Strip killed 21 people.
As the dpa news agency reported, citing a local hospital director, at least seven children were among the dead.
According to the Ministry of Internal Security, the fire broke out on the upper floor of a multi-storey house in the Jabaliya refugee camp and then spread to the rest of the building.
It's one of the worst fire disasters in the troubled coastal enclave in years.
What exactly triggered the fire is still unclear, a special committee is now to determine the cause.
According to media reports, large amounts of fuel are said to have been stored in the building.
Hamas mobilizes for funeral procession
Thousands of people gathered in the Gaza Strip on Friday to take part in a funeral procession.
Video footage showed a large crowd carrying the bodies through the streets.
The radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas, which rules in the Gaza Strip, had previously requested participation in the funeral.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared Friday a day of mourning and flags were flown at half-staff.
Israel offers support
Israel's Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he instructed the authorities to help transfer the injured to Israeli hospitals if necessary and expressed his condolences to the Palestinians.
Jabalia is the largest of the eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip.
Located to the north near the village of the same name, it includes multi-storey buildings and resembles a city in its own right.
After the first Arab-Israeli war in 1949, around 35,000 Palestinians fled to the camp.
Today, more than 110,000 registered refugees live there in a very small space, sometimes under very bad conditions.
The Gaza Strip is controlled by Hamas and has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007 to prevent attacks by armed groups from the area.
Due to a lack of electricity, many residents rely on other energy sources for cooking and lighting, including kerosene.
This often leads to fires.
fek/dpa/AP/AFP