As Hamas continued its rocket strikes against Israel's civilian population on Saturday, the IDF maintained heavy pressure on Hamas targets in Gaza. One of the strategic targets destroyed in strikes was a high-rise building that housed the Gaza offices of The Associated Press and other international media outlets.
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The AP has operated from the building for 15 years, including through three previous wars between Israel and Hamas. During those conflicts as well as the current one, the news agency's cameras from its top floor office and roof terrace offered 24-hour live shots as terrorists' rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.
"We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building," AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. "This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk."
In the afternoon, the IDF called the building's owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and other occupants evacuated safely.
Soon after, three missiles hit the building and destroyed it, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust.
"The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today," Pruitt said. "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."
Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a "war crime" aiming to "silence the media and to hide the untold carnage and suffering of the people of Gaza."
US press leaders called for Israel to stop attacking buildings that house journalists in Gaza after an Israeli missile destroyed the al-Jalaa building on Saturday.
National Press Club President Lisa Nicole Matthews and National Press Club Journalism Institute President Angela Greiling Keane issued the following statement:
"The Israeli airstrike on an office tower in Gaza Saturday is part of a pattern this week of Israeli forces destroying buildings in Gaza that house media organizations. After Israeli forces provided warning of the attacks, journalists and other civilians were able to escape death. But, as AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt put it, AP journalists and freelancers saw their equipment destroyed and 'narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life.'"
"We call upon Israeli authorities to halt strikes on facilities known to house press. Reliable media organizations are the best sources of accurate information about events in Gaza, and they must not be prevented from doing their vital job," Matthews and Keane said.
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