Conflicts & War

Israel razes Gaza office building housing international media

(Update: adds info on tower collapse)

Jerusalem/Gaza May 15 (EFE).- An Israeli air strike on Saturday demolished a 14-storey building in Gaza City that housed offices for the US news agency AP, the Al Jazeera news network and other international media.

The occupants were given an evacuation order prior to the attack, the Israeli army said.

The building is the fifth high-rise tower to be bombed by Israeli aircraft since the violence between Hamas and Israel erupted this week.

The collapse of the Al Jalaa tower was captured live by multiple international television channels, including those that were broadcasting from there.

According to the Israeli army, the building “contained military assets belonging to the military intelligence” of the Islamist Hamas movement that governs the Gaza Strip.

An Israeli military spokesman added that Hamas chose the building to house its assets precisely because of the presence there of media outlets, which he said were “used as human shields” by the group.

This incident took place shortly after Palestinian militants in Gaza launched a volley of rockets towards Tel Aviv. Most of which were intercepted, although one of them hit nearby Ramat Gan, killing a 55-year-old man and wounding 13 others.

Earlier on Saturday, 10 members of the same Palestinian family were killed in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza.

Eight children and two women, all from the Abu Hatab family, were killed in the shelling, Palestinian sources told Efe.

Related Articles

Back to top button