Prior to yesterday’s attack on a building housing the media, Israeli forces had bombed two more buildings housing a total of about 20 media outlets.
“Shocked and terrified,” the Associated Press said in a statement following the bombing of its office building and the Al Jazeera network in the Gaza Strip .
The Qatari-based Al Jazeera network is calling on the international community to condemn the attack and hold Israel accountable. “Al Jazeera calls on all media and human rights institutions to join forces to denounce these heinous bombings and hold the Israeli government accountable for deliberately targeting journalists and the media.” According to his correspondent, the attacks are escalating in the last few hours, bloodshed continues (145 Palestinians and nine Israelis killed according to the latest tally) and thousands of Palestinians are rushing to evacuate their homes.
“More people are evacuating their homes, especially those living near the border. Earlier, two more buildings were evacuated and bombed. “This is in stark contrast to Israel’s narrative that all attacks are aimed at Hamas facilities.” It is a pretext that the Israeli forces used during the bombing of the building where the above-mentioned international information networks were based.
“We will say it again: When Hamas installs military elements inside such a building, it is a legitimate military target. This is clearly international law. “All the high-rise buildings targeted by the IDF were used for military purposes,” the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
In fact, the IDF spokesman rejected the claim that Israel seeks to silence the media. “This is completely unfounded, the media is not a target,” he told Reuters.
- Breathtaking video from Gaza: Journalists run to evacuate building before bombing
- “Everything disappeared in two seconds” – Journalists describe media bombing in Gaza
The facts disprove them
However, what is unfolding in the Gaza Strip seems to be an indisputable witness. This is because before today’s attack on the media, the bombing by the Israeli forces of two more buildings that housed a total of about 20 media networks had preceded.
History has shown that if the media are not on the ground to document war crimes, it is much easier for someone – in this case in Israel – to commit them.
According to a report by the Russian network RT , on Tuesday Israel bombed the 10-storey Al-Jawhar tower. Prior to the attack, he had “warned in good faith” that an air raid would follow in the next few minutes. The next day, he bombed the 14-story Al-Shorouk Tower, also sending a warning.
As today, those who lived and worked in these buildings managed to evacuate them before they were leveled.
A statement from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the Al-Jawhara building housed the offices of 13 media outlets and NGOs, while a statement from the Committee to Protect Journalists said the Al-Shorouk building housed at least seven media outlets.
Minutes after the Al-Shorouk tower was bombed, journalist Eva Bartlett spoke by telephone with Shadi Ali, a producer who had worked there for ten years. As he describes, he spoke to her about previous cases, when Israel had bombed the building in 2009, 2012 and 2014.
“I was there in 2012. My office was on the 14th floor when it was hit at 6 in the morning. I was sleeping. I had only slept for an hour and a half when it was hit by two rockets on the top floor. When it was bombed in 2014, we took precautions and evacuated the building. “They hit the 15th floor, completely destroying it,” the producer describes.
The building was located on a main street in Gaza where there were apartment buildings around. “We are waiting, because the strikes will continue, knowing that civilians will be on the spot to look for victims,” he said when asked if there were any casualties.
The journalist then claims that a similar tactic was followed by Israel in January 2009, when she was in Gaza with a group of Palestinian doctors in the Red Crescent, while she was present (at the same time) in the bombing of the Al-Shorouk building. “As soon as I finished an interview with RT, Israel attacked the building at least seven times. Fortunately, we managed to go down the stairs safely. “
The Al-Shorouk building was bombed again a week later. Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the bombing, noting that the Israeli army had contacted Reuters (which had an office there) “minutes before the attack to confirm the location of the office in Gaza” and confirmed: that was not a goal.
As the journalist points out, the presence of the media in such a place is crucial. In previous wars in Gaza, Israel has committed war crimes – in 2009 it bombed a Palestinian doctor working to rescue wounded civilians, following an earlier attack with a tragic death toll of six. There were also killings of children, infants and women, as well as attacks on schools.
According to her, these horrific events only happened in 2009. In 2012 and 2014, Israel again committed unspeakable war crimes, destroying entire neighborhoods and slaughtering residents, bombing children on a beach and hitting a teenager a few hours ago. from the ceasefire.
The same thing is happening now. As of May 14, the Gaza Ministry of Health had announced at least 145 dead, including 41 children.
The need to protect (and) journalists
Reported by Reporters Without Borders in December 2008, Israel declared the Gaza Strip a “closed military zone” and denied access to journalists working for international media. And now, according to the RT journalist, Israel knows that there are not many foreigners in Gaza to broadcast what is happening.
There is a media blockade over the violent siege of Gaza and the bombing by Israel.
“Israel will commit many crimes in Gaza, as there is no foreign media,” said the producer who worked in Gaza. And she is, as the journalist agrees, right. “As Israel threatens to invade from the mainland, protecting buildings housing the media and journalists becomes even more important because the Jewish state will commit more war crimes.”
