Israel's military said on Tuesday that a tower block in Gaza housing the offices of US-based Associated Press and Qatar's Al Jazeera TV that was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike during Operation Guardian of the Walls was also used by the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas as an electronic warfare site.
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The bombing of the 12-story tower during last month's fighting with Gaza-based terrorist groups drew international condemnation and calls by Israel's main ally the United States to protect journalists.
The IDF said that the target "was of high military value to Hamas," who used the site for intelligence research and electronic warfare operations. One of the main goals of these efforts was to develop a system that would disrupt the Iron Dome aerial defense system."
"The strike sought to curtail these enemy capabilities, including destroying special equipment and preventing their use during the operation. The strike was designed to collapse the building in order to ensure the destruction of the special means" and that ample time was given for residents and office workers to evacuate the building, resulting in zero civilian casualties.
The Jala Tower in Gaza City had been evacuated after its owner received an advanced warning of the May 15 strike. But the AP says it has received no evidence of a Hamas presence that posed a threat and has called for an independent investigation.
AP executives met Israel's Ambassador to Washington and the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Monday to discuss the building's destruction
"Israeli authorities maintain that the building housing our bureau was destroyed because of a Hamas presence that posed an urgent threat. We have yet to receive evidence to support these claims," the AP said in a statement.
"AP continues to call for the full release of any evidence the Israelis have so that the facts are public."
In a statement, Erdan reiterated an Israeli claim that the building housed Hamas military intelligence, saying its personnel there were "developing an electronic jamming system to be used against the Iron Dome defense system."
Erdan said Israel did all it could to avoid civilian harm.
"AP is one of the most important news agencies in the world and Israel doesn't think that AP employees were aware it was being cynically used in this way by Hamas for a secret unit," he said.
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