One family in Gaza loses 17 members to a massive fire at a birthday party

During a birthday celebration, a fire ripped through a top-floor apartment in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 17 members of one family, a relative reported on Friday. According to Hamas-run Gaza officials, a three-storey residential building fire that broke out Thursday night in the Jabaliya refugee camp appears to have been started by gasoline that was previously stored. They claimed that the cause of the gasoline's ignition was unclear and that an investigation was ongoing.

21 people were killed, making it one of the bloodiest episodes in Gaza in recent years except violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to official figures. The Abu Raya family lived in the building's top-floor flat, which was completely destroyed by the fire.

The Associated Press was informed by Mohammed Abu Raya, a family spokesman, that the extended family had gathered to celebrate both a child's birthday and the return of an adult from a trip to Egypt. At the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, where the remains had been brought and where distraught family members were waiting for the funeral processions to start, Abu Raya stated.

Three generations of the Abu Raya family—a married couple, their five sons, two daughters-in-law, and eight grandchildren—were among the victims, according to Abu Raya. The additional victims' names were not immediately revealed. The bodies were taken from the hospital mortuary to a mosque later on Friday in preparation for burial.