Palestinian Overcrowded Ammunition Storage Refugee Camp Catches Fire In Lebanon; Hamas Calls It An Isolated Accident
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Roshan Amiri
- . December 12, 2021
- . Update: December 12, 2021 1:20 am
Lebanon–Explosions shook a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon stirring with it controversy over the causes and foul play. The coastal city of Tyre is shaken up as body count on. The explosion occurred at the reported Hamas weapons depot. Strangely, local media and rescue workers claimed that there were no casualties.
While Lebanese state media is claiming the explosion occurred due to arms stored in the area, Hamas is claiming otherwise. The latter has said that the fire and explosion was caused by an electrical short-circuit in a storage area for oxygen bottles used to treat coronavirus patients.
Hamas feels media has been blowing the whole incident out of proportions. In a formal statement, the terror outfit that is also a political party described the explosions as an ‘incident’ adding that a fire in the refugee camp in the southern port city of Tyre caused limited damage. It gave no word on casualties but residents in the camp said at least one person was killed.
It is worth noting that a number of Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Fatah, control Palestinian camps in the south of Lebanon. By custom, Lebanese state authorities do not enter these territories. It is no surprise that Hamas does keep weapons in these camps. Also, the size of these weapons depots remains unclear. This is one of the biggest Palestinian camps in the south of Lebanon, of which there are around a dozen. It is also observed that this is one of the more congested camps of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
The real culprit seems to be electric shock circuit that ignited the oxygen cylinders. Lebanon is home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Many live in the 12 refugee camps that are scattered around the small Mediterranean country.
