An official at the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza confirmed the fire started in a bakery [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters]
At least nine Palestinians were killed and 60 injured after a fire broke out in a bakery in the occupied Gaza Strip on Thursday.
Six children were among the dead and 14 of the injured were in critical condition, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
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Witnesses said they heard an explosion come from a bakery in the Nuseirat camp, in central Gaza, before a blaze engulfed the establishment and quickly spread to nearby stores, factories and cars parked along the street.
Gaza’s interior ministry, which is run by the enclave’s ruling organisation Hamas, said the fire resulted from a gas leak inside one of the bakeries that caused several cooking gas canisters to explode.