This is footage of a Gazan contractor of a 14-story building talking in Arabic to an Israeli army Intelligence officer:
Inside his building are the offices of the Hamas Army Intelligence and the AP and Al Jazeera English news agencies. Israel, needing to take down the building because it is being used as the enemy’s base, has already told the news agencies an hour ago to vacate the premises.
The local Gazan astonishingly says “we respect your decision” but as a mediator he asks for 10 more minutes for the agencies to take out the rest of their equipment. The officer refuses, stating they already have had an hour and he doesn’t want these people going back in because it is dangerous for THEM.
All this effort to save civilians is going on WHILE rockets are bombarding our country.
After the building was demolished, AP, one of the world’s most powerful news agencies, released an audacious statement in which there was only a meagre secondary disclaimer sentence of having been given a warning.
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. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.
We are seeking information from the Israeli government and are engaged with the US State Department to try to learn more.
This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.
The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today.
No, AP, the world will know more because as long as your offices are disabled it gives people less exposure to your twisting of the truth.
And as an aside, I would like to know why these “reputable” global and influential media agencies are sharing premises with an internationally-designated terror organisation.
