A targeted Israeli airstrike destroyed a 12-story building that housed the Gaza City offices of The Associated Press and other news outlets on Saturday.
“We are shocked and dismayed” by the “incredibly disturbing” attack on the property, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. “The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” he added.
AP employees and other tenants safely evacuated the building after the military gave a phone call that the attack was imminent within an hour. Three heavy missiles hit the building, collapsing it completely in the middle of a gigantic cloud of dust.
For 15 years, the AP’s top-floor office and rooftop terrace were a prime location to cover Israel’s conflicts with the Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip, including the wars of 2009 and 2014.
The news agency’s camera offered 24-hour live footage as militia rockets flew into Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered in and around the city this week.
The building was also home to the offices of the Al-Jazeera network, a news network financed by the Qatari government, and residential apartments.
Palestinian insurgents have fired some 1,800 projectiles and Israel launched more than 600 airstrikes that brought down at least three apartment blocks.
Al-Jazeera broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed. “This channel will not be muted. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced,” said an Al-Jazeera English presenter, her voice heavy with emotion. “We can guarantee it right now,” she added.
The Israeli army said it targeted the building because it contained equipment from Hamas intelligence agencies. The Israeli armed forces alleged that these agencies were using the media offices as “human shields”. It did not provide evidence for these claims.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists demanded from Israel “a detailed and documented justification” for the attack.
Israeli forces have targeted some areas with gunfire from tanks stationed near the Gaza border. The armed conflict has been going on for five days and more than 100 dead.
“This latest attack on a building that Israel knew housed international media suggests that the Israel Defense Forces are deliberately targeting press facilities in order to disrupt coverage of human suffering in Gaza,” the director said. group executive Joel Simon in a statement.
The other Israeli airstrike on the refugee camp, hours earlier, was the deadliest single hit in the current conflict between Israel and the radical group Hamas. Both sides are trying to gain advantage as efforts to achieve a ceasefire increase.
The latest outbreak of violence began in Jerusalem and spread throughout the region over the past week, with clashes between Jews and Arabs and riots in mixed cities across Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests on Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.
Israel and Hamas are on the brink of a full-scale war.