Expatica news

Fire sweeps through French Cultural Centre in Gaza

Offices of the French Cultural Centre in Gaza city were ablaze early Wednesday with Palestinian officials saying the fire was caused by faulty fuel tanks in the empty building.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing two explosions followed by flames. AFP journalists arriving at the scene said a fierce fire was in progress.

Interior ministry spokesman Iyad al Bozum wrote on his Facebook page that a fire broke out at the French Cultural Centre “caused by faulty fuel tanks, the civil defence is trying to control it and an investigation into the circumstances is under way.”

The centre is not staffed by French nationals and had been closed for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

French diplomatic missions and official buildings have been on specially high alert since the start of a spate of kidnappings and gruesome executions of foreigners by Islamic State jihadists and their allies, particularly that of Frenchman Hervé Gourdel, beheaded in Algeria.

The Gaza Strip, subject to an Israeli blockade and battered by a July-August Israeli military offensive, suffers chronic power cuts, leading to the widespread use of privately-owned generators and storage of jerrycans of diesel fuel to power them.