Al Jazeera mentioned Saturday it might not be silenced, after an Israeli air strike on Gaza demolished the constructing housing the Qatar-based broadcaster in addition to US information company The Associated Press. “It is obvious that those that are waging this struggle don’t solely need to unfold destruction and demise in Gaza, but in addition to silence media which are witnessing, documenting and reporting the reality of what’s taking place in Gaza,” said Walid al-Omari, Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem bureau chief.
“But this is impossible,” he mentioned on air shortly after the 13-storey Jala Tower in Gaza was obliterated.
“This is a criminal offense amongst a sequence of crimes perpetrated by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.”
Al Jazeera broadcast footage showing the building collapsing to the ground after the Israeli air strike, sending up a huge mushroom cloud of dust and debris.
Jawad Mehdi, the owner of the Jala Tower, said an Israeli intelligence officer warned him he had just one hour to ensure the evacuation of the building.
Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, Safwat al-Kahlout, tweeted his despair over the destruction.
“I’ve been working right here for 11 years. I’ve lined many occasions from this constructing… now every little thing, in two seconds, simply vanished,” he said.
Israel alleged its “fighter jets attacked a high-rise building which hosted military assets belonging to the military intelligence of the Hamas terror organisation”.
“The constructing additionally hosted workplaces of civilian media retailers, which the Hamas terror group hides behind and makes use of as human shields,” it said.
Israeli air and artillery strikes on Gaza since Monday have killed 139 people including 39 children, and wounded 1,000 more, health officials in the coastal enclave say.
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