Screen grab from one of the videos showing the blast at Borj El Chmali camp.
Late on December 10, a large blast rocked the Palestinian Borj El Chmali refugee camp near the city of Tyre in Lebanon’s South Governorate.
The Lebanese National News Agency reported that the blast emanated from a weapons depot of the Palestinian Hamas Movement located next to Abi Bin Kaab mosque in the center of the camp. Videos from the scene showed many secondary explosions.
Considering the large number of secondary explosions there is a high possibility this is a ammunition/weapons cache. pic.twitter.com/YkNqri9lG2
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) December 10, 2021
Additional footage from on the ground with secondaries. pic.twitter.com/8VzigwV3no
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) December 10, 2021
#Lebanon : Huge explosion in #Palestinian refugee camp Burj Shemali near Tyre (صور ) – casualties feared, cause unclear – some reports say that fire set off blast in #Hamas weapons depot -others say it’s oxygen cylinders that exploded #البرج_الشمالي
pic.twitter.com/TdFNychdTE— sebastian usher (@sebusher) December 10, 2021
According to the stat-run news agency, a judge had ordered Lebanese security forces to launch an investigation into the blast.
The blast claimed the life of a man, an alleged member of Hamas, and wounded around a dozen other people including two Lebanese first responders.
In a statement released on December 11, Hamas said that the blast was caused by an electrical fault in a warehouse containing oxygen and gas cylinders for coronavirus patients, as well as detergents and disinfectants.
“The news that was circulated about the causes of the accident, and the death of dozens of people, are fabricated and baseless,” the statement reads.
Palestinian armed factions maintain control over roughly a dozen Palestinian camps in Lebanon, which the country’s authorities by custom do not enter.
Despite Hamas denial, there is a strong possibility that the blast really emanated from a weapons depot of the group. If this was indeed the case, the Israeli intelligence, which is known to be very active in Lebanon, may have been behind the blast.
