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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-israel-bombs-building-used-middle-east-eye-al-jazeera-and-ap">middleeasteye.net</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Israel bombs Gaza building used by Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera and AP</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">By Alex MacDonald ,
Mohammed al-Hajjar - May 15, 2021<br></div>
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<div><p>Israel on Saturday bombed a building in Gaza
used by a number of news outlets, including Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera
and the Associated Press.</p>
<p>Reporters and media workers said they had fled the al-Jalaa tower in
Gaza City after being issued a one-hour notice by the Israeli army,
which later destroyed the building.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/mohammed-al-hajjar" target="_blank">Mohammed al-Hajjar</a>, a photojournalist for MEE, was among those who left the building.</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live/israel-palestine-sheikh-jarrah-jerusalem-update" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/2021-05/before%20and%20after%20gaza%20tower.jpg?itok=wzfvIM4A" alt="" width="400" height="250"></a></p><p>Live: Israel bombs Gaza building used by Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera and AP after one-hour ultimatum</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live/israel-palestine-sheikh-jarrah-jerusalem-update" target="_blank">Read More »</a>
</p></div>
<p>Speaking by phone, he said he had left his laptop behind but had
managed to grab his hard-drive and camera. He said the evacuation was a
scene of panic and chaos as people rushed to take whatever they could
and get out as best as they could.</p>
<p>Returning to re-inspect the remains, there was only wreckage.</p>
<p>"There's nothing left but our memories," he said.</p>
<p>So far, no casualties have been reported.</p>
<p>The 12-storey building contained 60 residential units, with a number
of offices for international media including Al Jazeera and the
Associated Press, as well as Arab and local press.</p>
<p>In a statement, the Israeli army said it had struck the building becuase it housed <span lang="en"><span><span>"entities belonging to the military intelligence of the terrorist organization Hamas" without elaborating.</span></span></span></p>
<p>A number of journalists tweeted about the incoming strike.</p>
<p><span>"And now bombs could fall on our office. We ran down the stairs
from the 11th floor and now looking at the building from afar, praying
Israeli army would eventually retract," wrote Fares Akram, AP's Gaza
correspondent.</span></p>
<p>Wael Al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera's senior reporter in Gaza, told MEE that
the bombing of their office would "not cover the image of the truth, nor
will it silence it".</p>
<p>"Regardless of why Israel bombed the building, we reaffirm that we
will continue to do our job, fulfil our duty and deliver the message,
even if we have to do it from the street or the car or any other place,"
he said.</p>
<p>"As long as journalists are alive, healthy and determined to do their
jobs, they will continue this mission of covering the truth as if this
building was still standing."</p>
<p>Shortly before the strike, Al Jazeera aired a phone call between the owner of al-Jalaa and an Israeli intelligence officer.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'[The attack] raises the spectre that the Israeli army are liberally
attacking media facilities to distrupt coverage of what is happening in
Gaza and the human suffering there'</p>
<p><em>- Ignacio Miguel Delgado, Committee to Protect Journalists</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The owner, named by Al Jazeera as Abu Hossam, asked to be given more time to evacuate equipment from the offices.</p>
<p>"There's no bad people here, just journalists," he was quoted as saying. "Just give us 10 more mins to get the cameras out."</p>
<p>The intelligence officer declined his request.</p>
<p>"Do what you want, we can't stop you. Our lives' work is gone, our
memories are gone, our lives are gone, we have God to turn to," said
Hossam.</p>
<p>Health officials in the enclave said Israeli air and artillery
strikes since Monday have killed 139 people including 39 children in
Gaza while more than 1,000 have been wounded.</p>
<p>Ignacio Miguel Delgado, Middle East and North Africa representative
of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), condemned the attack on
the building in Gaza and called for accountability.</p>
<p>He told MEE the attack on the building "raises the spectre that the
Israeli army are liberally attacking media facilities to distrupt
coverage of what is happening in Gaza and the human suffering there".</p>
<p>"We would like the Israeli authorities to give a detailed and
documented justification for this military attack on a civilian
facility, considering they know exactly what kind of media outlets are
operating there and this may be also a violation of international
humanitarian law," he said.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1393577210964058115" target="_blank">statement</a> released on Twitter, the White House said it had communicated to Israel <span>that "ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility.</span>"</p>
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