Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Israel’s military leveled a Gaza tower that housed offices for Al Jazeera and the Associated Press on Saturday as it continues to escalate its campaign against the Hamas militant group.
The 11-story al-Jalaa building, which also included residential housing, collapsed after being hit by an Israeli air strike, which the Israel Defense Forces said in a tweet Saturday was intended to target “Hamas military intelligence assets” allegedly based in the tower.
Israeli air strikes just destroyed the building housing Al Jazeera’s bureau, other media offices and people’s homes in Gaza #gaza#IsraelPalestine@AJENews@AJEnglishpic.twitter.com/5erQekL187 Kalvin Ng (@kalvin ng) May 15, 2021
GAZA CITY For Mohammed Alaloul and Mustafa Hassona, it had already been three long days covering potential war crimes when the two Gazan journalists fell victim to one themselves. On Thursday, the Anadolu Agency journalists were wading through the rubble of a decimated Northern Gaza neighborhood when an Israeli airstrike exploded nearby. They rushed to the scene to document any civilian casualties, only to conclude it was still too dangerous as.
May 14, 2021 6:05 PM EDT
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus defended the ongoing strikes inside the Gaza Strip in an interview Friday, claiming many of the people killed have been “terrorists” and saying the violence has not been disproportionate to the attacks from the other side.
Amna Nawaz spoke with Conricus about the Israeli military’s strikes, which have killed 122 Palestinians, including 31 children and 20 women, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Watch the full interview with Conricus in the player above.
Conricus said that of the Palestinian death toll, about 50 were believed to be members of the Islamist military and political group Hamas, which controls Gaza and which Israel, the U.S., the E.U. and others call a terrorist organization.
May 14, 2021
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a global press freedom watchdog, has called on Israel to protect reporters covering the unrest across Israel and the Palestinian territories, as well as refrain from targeting buildings that house media outlets.
“Israeli authorities must cease arresting and attacking journalists, who play a vital role reporting the news and bringing clarity amid chaos,” said Ignacio Miguel Delgado, the committee s Middle East and North Africa representative.
In the West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli forces arrested Hazem Naser, a Palestinian cameraman for Al-Ghad, according to a report by the Amman-based broadcaster. On Thursday, Turkish state-owned Anadolu Agency reported that two of its Palestinian journalists were injured in an Israeli strike in Gaza.
CPJ: At least 8 journalists injured in Jerusalem violence
Anadolu Agency s Middle East News Editor Turgut Alp Poyraz receives medical treatment at Makassed Hospital after he was injured from his leg with 2 rubber bullets in an attack by the Israeli police on Muslim worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque on May 11, 2021 in Jerusalem. [Mustafa Deveci - Anadolu Agency] May 13, 2021 at 11:05 am
Israeli security forces injured at least eight journalists covering the violent protests in East Jerusalem, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists,
Anadolu Agency reported.
They included freelance reporters, photojournalists and
Anadolu Agency reporters, who suffered injuries between Friday and Monday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the committee said Tuesday.