Israel destroys building housing media

By News Desk

GAZA CITY: An Israeli air strike Saturday demolished the 13-floor building, housing Qatar-based Al Jazeera television and American news agency The Associated Press (AP) in the Gaza Strip, journalists said.

Israel "destroyed Jala Tower in the Gaza Strip, which contains the Al Jazeera and other international press offices," Al Jazeera said in a tweet, with an AP journalist saying the army had warned the tower´s owner ahead of the strike.

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.

In a phone call with the officer, AFP heard him beg for an extra 10 minutes to allow journalists to retrieve their equipment before leaving. "Give us ten extra minutes," he urged, but the officer on the other end of the line refused.

Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera´s bureau chief in Gaza told AFP: "It´s terrible, very sad, to target the Al Jazeera and other press bureaux".

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 building also hosted offices of civilian media outlets, which the Hamas terror group hides behind and uses as human shields," it said.

Israeli air and artillery strikes on Gaza since Monday have killed over 150 people including 39 children, and wounded 1,000 more, health officials in the coastal enclave say.

While, ten members of a single extended family were killed in an Israeli air strike early Saturday on the western Gaza Strip, medics in the Palestinian enclave said. The eight children and two women were killed when a three-storey building in Shati refugee camp collapsed following an Israeli strike, medical sources said.

Israeli warplanes struck multiple targets in Gaza overnight, while Palestinian militants fired some 200 rockets at southern Israel, around 30 of which fell short, hitting the ground inside Gaza, the Israeli military said.

Speaking outside Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the father of four of the children, Muhammad al-Hadidi, said he wanted "the unjust world to see these crimes". "They were safe in their homes, they did not carry weapons, they did not fire rockets," he said of his children, who were killed "wearing their clothes for Eidul Fitr", the holiday marking the end of Ramazan. Both Hadidi and Mohammad Abu Hattab, his brother-in-law and host, were away from Hattab´s home when it collapsed. The Abu Hattabs´ five-month-old baby also survived.

Meanwhile, the White House on Saturday is “communicating” with the Israeli government to express its concern after Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip demolished a civilian building hosting several news organisations including the Associated Press (AP).

“We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a Twitter post Saturday morning, reported international media.

In a Facebook post, the Israeli Air Force said that the building also housed military assets belonging to the Hamas terror organization.

Associated Press CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement that “a dozen” AP staffers and freelancers were in the building before the bombing.

“We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza,” his statement said. “They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit. This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life.”

He said the organisation is engaged with the US State Department and trying to find out more information from the Israeli government about the strike.

President Mahmud Abbas spoke Saturday with Joe Biden for the first time since the US president took office, the Ramallah presidency said, as violence between Israel and the Palestinians flared.

Abbas´s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said the conversation was "important", without elaborating on the details of the exchange.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Joe Biden that Israel did its utmost to safeguard civilians in its Gaza bombing campaign, after an air strike demolished a tower hosting the Associated Press news agency.

"Netanyahu stressed that Israel is doing everything to avoid harming those uninvolved," a readout from the Israeli premier´s office said. "The proof is that towers containing terror sites are cleared of uninvolved people prior to being attacked."

On Monday, Hamas fired rockets towards Jerusalem in response to a bloody Israeli police action at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in annexed east Jerusalem, prompting Israel to begin air strikes. More than 2,300 rockets have been fired at Israel since then, killing nine people, including a child and a soldier. More than 560 people have been wounded.

Meanwhile, protest demonstrations were held in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Germany, Britain, Poland, Spain and several other countries against Israel’s barbaric action against innocent Palestinians in Gaza.

Protests against Israel were held in different cities of Pakistan including Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi after Eidul Fitr prayers. The protesters chanted slogans against Israeli attacks in Gaza and demanded international community of force Israel to halt attacks against Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Egypt "exceptionally opened the Rafah crossing Saturday to allow 10 Egyptian ambulances into the Gaza Strip to transport wounded Palestinians to be treated in Egypt," a medical official said.

An official at the Gaza border said the opening was "exceptional" because it is usually closed during public holidays including Eidul Fitr, this year running from Wednesday to Sunday in Egypt.

The Egyptian public health authority said Friday that the holiday was being suspended for some Egyptian doctors and nurses in preparation to receive "those coming from the Gaza Strip".

US Secretary for Israel-Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr was due to meet Israeli leaders in Jerusalem Sunday before heading to the occupied West Bank for talks with Palestinian officials. He wants to encourage a "sustainable calm", State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Jalina Porter said.

Washington has been criticised for not doing more to end the intensifying violence, after it blocked a UN Security Council meeting scheduled for Friday.

Eleven Palestinians were killed in clashes in the occupied West Bank on Friday, and there were fears of worse violence Saturday as Palestinians commemorate the Nakba, the "catastrophe" of Israel´s creation in 1948, which turned hundreds of thousands into refugees.

Some 10,000 Palestinians have fled homes near the Israeli border for fear of a ground offensive, the United Nations said. "They are sheltering in schools, mosques and other places during a global COVID-19 pandemic with limited access to water, food, hygiene and health services, said UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied territories, Lynn Hastings.

Kamal al-Haddad, who fled with his family to a UN-supported school in Gaza City, said: "All the children are afraid, and we are afraid for the children".

The West Bank saw fierce clashes on Friday, with the Palestinian health ministry saying Israeli fire killed 11 people.

A Palestinian security source said the fighting was the "most intense" since the second intifada, or uprising, that began in 2000. At least one of the Palestinians killed was shot dead after attempting to stab a soldier north of Ramallah, the Israeli army said, which early Saturday reported an attempted knife attack in Nablus.

In east Jerusalem, masked Palestinian protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas.

Within Israel, tensions have spiralled into mob violence in mixed towns that are both home to Jewish Israelis and Arab citizens of Palestinian descent.

In Jaffa, an Arab child was seriously wounded after a firebomb was thrown into his home, police said.

In the north, where Israel remains technically at war with neighbouring Lebanon and Syria, tensions were also rising. Three rockets were launched from Syria Friday evening, while Israel´s army said it fired "warning shots" towards a group to stop them crossing from Lebanon, with Israel´s arch-enemy, the pro-Iran group Hezbollah, saying one of its members was killed.

The UN said the Security Council was set to meet Sunday to address the violence.

But Israel´s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave no indication that Israel was ready to ease its campaign. "I said we´d deliver heavy blows to Hamas and other terror groups, and we´re doing that," Netanyahu said. "It´s not over yet".

Meanwhile, the deadly escalation between Israel and the Palestinians has embarrassed Gulf states, which forged ties with the Jewish state and put a strain on their Abraham Accords that were billed as a game-changer.

The bloodshed has prompted condemnation from Israel´s new Arab partners, at a time when Muslims have been celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramazan.

Less than a year after signing normalisation agreements with Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco have been forced to change course and turn to critical rhetoric.

"These statements are largely intended as a public relations exercise towards a domestic and regional Arab audience that continues to overwhelmingly support the Palestinians," Elham Fakhro, an analyst at the Crisis Group think tank, said.

The Abraham Accords swept away decades of consensus, and were condemned as "treason" by Palestinian leaders who feared they undercut their demands for a homeland.

In Bahrain, daily demonstrations have been staged in support of the Palestinians, with the foreign minister, Abdullatif al-Zayani, expressing "strong condemnation of the attacks launched by the Israeli forces on the Gaza Strip".

Internet users have shared photos of themselves wearing the Palestinian chequered keffiyeh scarf, and civil society groups have called for ties with Israel to be severed.

In the UAE, which has tight curbs on social media, many users have shared videos and photos to denounce the occupation and brutality of Israeli forces.

As rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza, others with ties to the leadership in Abu Dhabi accused the coastal enclave´s rulers Hamas of terrorism -- reflecting the UAE´s zero-tolerance of political Islam. It is a far cry from the heady days after the accords were announced, when prominent Emiratis tweeted "Shalom Aleikum" -- a combination of Arabic and Hebrew greetings.

For Hugh Lovatt, an analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, the crisis is "the first real test" for the UAE, which for years had quietly cultivated ties with Israel.

"Is the UAE prepared to put its relations with Israel on the line for the sake of the Palestinians? The answer appears to be ´no´ at present," he said, pointing to gains such as technology partnerships and access to military hardware from the US.

King Salman has voiced "strong condemnation of the Israeli measures in Jerusalem and the acts of violence carried out by Israel", and stressed his country "stands by the Palestinian people".

The UAE´s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, expressed "grave concern over the escalating spiral of violence" and called on "all parties to take immediate steps to commit to a ceasefire, initiate a political dialogue, and exercise maximum restraint".

"Morocco should play a mediation role. If it fails to do so, it would be preferable for it to distance itself from the normalisation process without going so far as to break off relations," said Tajeddine Houssaini, an international relations professor at Rabat University.

Sudan, which established ties with Israel in return for its removal from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism, has condemned Israel and warned that its actions will perpetuate "a cycle of violence".

Meanwhile, Paris braced for possible clashes on Saturday as organisers vowed to hold a march in support of the Palestinians through the French capital despite a ban by authorities fearing a flare-up of anti-Semitic violence.

Police have ordered shops to close from noon along the planned route, from the heavily immigrant Barbes neighbourhood in the north to the place de la Bastille.

Police had banned the march, and a court upheld the decision, fearing a repeat of fierce clashes that erupted during a similar Paris demonstration during the last Israel-Palestinians war in 2014, when protesters took aim at synagogues and other Israeli and Jewish targets. "We all remember that extremely troubling protest where terrible phrases like ´death to Jews´ were yelled," Mayor Anne Hidalgo told AFP on Friday, welcoming the "wise" decision by the police to ban the march.

Similar protests in Germany and Denmark this week have degenerated into clashes leading to several arrests.

Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin also called for similar bans in other cities if necessary, and officials have prohibited marches in Nice and some Paris suburbs. Other protests are going forward in Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille and other cities.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said it is vital for the Palestinian’s issue to get the diplomatic recognition for better global understanding.

The world, he said, needs to know who is the real victim and the aggressor behind the Palestine – Israel conflict. In reference to the Israelis’ recent attack against the Palestinian civilians and worshippers in Al-Aqsa Mosque, the 96-year-old said there was no reason for the army to attack then. “People who are praying are not a danger to anyone,” he said in his address ‘Call for Humanity and the Ummah on Palestine Issues and Condemning Israeli Cruelty’ last night. “I hope that the Muslim world will awaken to the present situation,” he said.