Yahoo Finance Israel Increases Gaza Airstrikes, Bombing Building that Houses Associated Press and Al Jazeera
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Israeli air-strike hits Al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza
In an escalation of its airstrikes in Gaza, Israel has destroyed a 12-story building that housed the offices of the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other media companies.
Israel has claimed the building was being used by the Islamist militant group Hamas, though U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday he hasn't seen any evidence supporting that claim.
In a press conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on Monday, Blinken said the the United States remains "greatly concerned by the violence," and "alarmed by how journalists and medical personnel have been put at risk."
"Palestinians and Israelis, like people everywhere, have the right to live in safety and security. This is not an Israeli privilege or a Palestinian privilege; it's a human right," Blinken said. "And the current violence has ripped it away."
Reuters reported occupants of the building were told of the bombing in advance so that they could evacuate, but that a Palestinian journalist was wounded in the strike.
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Israeli air-strike hits Al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza
The Associated Press' top editor has called for an independent investigation into the Israeli airstrike that targeted the building.
"We've heard the Israelis say they have evidence [that Hamas had a presence in the building]," AP executive editor Sally Buzbee told CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday. "We don't know what that evidence is. We think it is appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened."
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with CBS' Face the Nation that same day, claimed the building housed "an intelligence office for the Palestinian terrorist organization housed in that building that plots and organizes terror attacks against Israeli civilians, so it's a perfectly legitimate target."
Al Jazeera, meanwhile, called the strike "a clear act to stop journalist from conducting their sacred duty to inform the world and report events on the ground."
The bombings, which occurred Saturday amid the worst escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinians since 2014, also included a strike on the home of a senior Hamas leader and the killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp, reported Reuters.
The Associated Press reported that photos taken by journalists in Gaza showed that a crater caused by the most recent bombings blocked one of the main roads leading to an important area hospital.
The escalation by Israel comes as Hamas — which vies with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank for primacy among Palestinians — has for days been firing rockets on parts of Israel.
Reuters reports that Hamas militants have fired more than 2,000 rockets at Israel in recent days. Israel has reported 10 dead (including two children) while Palestinian medics say at least 140 people, including 39 children, have been killed in Gaza.
In his remarks to reporters Monday, Blinken reiterated the U.S.'s stance that "Israel has the right to defend itself," adding: "There is no equivalence between a terrorist group indiscriminately firing rockets at civilians and a country defending its people from those attacks. So we call on Hamas and other groups in Gaza to end the rocket attacks immediately."
The secretary of state added his belief that "Israel, as a democracy, has an extra burden to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even as it defends itself and its people."
Blinken said the U.S. was calling on "all parties to ensure the protection of civilians — especially children — to respect international humanitarian law, to protect medical facilities, protect media organizations, and protect UN facilities where civilians are desperately seeking shelter. And we are ready to lend support if the parties seek a ceasefire."
