<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>A large fire that ripped through a home north of Gaza City where fuel was being stored killed at least 21 people including seven children on Thursday, official and medical sources said.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hamas Islamists, who control the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian enclave, said firefighters had managed to contain the blaze in Jabalia that left charred walls and mounds of black soot before being put out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gaza's civil defence unit confirmed in a statement that 21 people had been killed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The head of the Indonesian Hospital in Jabalia, Saleh Abu Laila, told AFP that the facility had received the bodies of at least seven children.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the cause of the fire remained unknown, a spokesman for the civil defence unit told AFP that supplies of fuel were stored in the house.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank -- a separate Palestinian territory -- considered the fire "a national tragedy", his spokesman said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Abbas declared a day of mourning on Friday, with flags to be flown at half-mast, and offered to send aid to families of the victims to "ease their suffering", spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Senior PA official Hussein Al Sheikh urged Israel to open the Erez crossing that connects Gaza with southern Israel and is normally closed at night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This would allow the transport of critically-hurt patients "in order to treat them outside the Gaza Strip if necessary", Al Sheikh said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz tweeted that his staff would assist with "humanitarian evacuations of the injured to (Israeli) hospitals", expressing sympathy for the "serious disaster" in Gaza.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- Blazes are common -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A large crowd of onlookers gathered on the street outside the multi-storey home as the blaze raged, sending plumes of smoke billowing out the top of the concrete building.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jabalia is a refugee camp, but like many such Palestinians camps, now includes large buildings and in many respects resembles a city.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Crowds remained on the street, with hundreds of police and emergency response workers on hand, after the blaze had been extinguished.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gaza, densely populated with 2.3 million people, has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, a measure Israel says is necessary to contain threats from armed groups in the strip.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With electricity supply sparse in the impoverished territory, domestic blazes are common, as Gazans seek alternative sources for cooking and light, including kerosene lamps.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This year Gaza received an average of 12 hours of mains electricity daily, up from just seven hours five years ago, according to United Nations data.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">New dangers arise in the winter when many people burn coal for heat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hamas said an investigation was underway to determine the cause. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>