Israeli bombardment on Gaza on Saturday destroyed a 12-storey Jala tower housing the offices of several foreign media organizations including the US-based Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera, reports said.
The strike came nearly an hour after the military ordered people to evacuate the building, which also housed other offices and residential apartments. The strike brought the entire 12-story building down, collapsing with a gigantic cloud of dust. There was no immediate explanation for why it was attacked.
BREAKING: An Israeli airstrike levelled the Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, a 13-floor building housing Qatari television station Al-Jazeera and the American news agency Associated Press. pic.twitter.com/pqeebSAfyO
— euronews (@euronews) May 15, 2021
‘In two seconds, everything vanished’, Al Jazeera quoted its correspondent as saying.
Associated Press in a statement, said that they are shocked and horrified to see the Israeli military targeting the building housing foreign media.
“We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit”
“We are seeking information from the Israeli government and are engaged with the US State Department to try to learn more”
“We are seeking information from the Israeli government and are engaged with the US State Department to try to learn more”
“This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time”
“This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time”
“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today, ” the statement from AP read.
The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel.
Aljazeera reports that at least 140 Palestinians, including 39 children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Monday. Some 950 others have been wounded. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have killed at least 13 Palestinians. Confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators continued into the night in occupied East Jerusalem.
