Israeli Air Strike Destroys Gaza Tower Housing AP, Al Jazeera Offices

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 bureaus.”

Video footage broadcast by Al Jazeera showed the moment the 13-storey building collapsed after the strike as plumes of dark smoke rose in the sky.

⭕ LIVE footage of the moment an Israeli air raid bombed the offices of Al Jazeera and The Associated Press in Gaza City ⬇️

🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/RvtP1lEX1x pic.twitter.com/RBO1ZiDAl0

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 15, 2021

“The tower has come down,” the anchorwoman said in the video. “Whenever you see journalists doing live updates from Gaza, they’re usually standing on the roof of that building which has now been flattened by an air strike by the Israeli military,” she added.

“This channel will not be silenced. Al Jazeera will not be silenced,” the on-air anchorwoman said, her voice thick with emotion. “We can guarantee you that right now.”

In a statement, 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 contained a number of apartments and other offices.

Strike at refugee camp

The strike came hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, in the deadliest single strike of the current violence.

Mohammed Hadidi told reporters his wife and five children had gone to celebrate the Eidul Fitr holiday with relatives. She and three of the children, aged six to 14, were killed, while an 11-year-old is missing. Only his five-month-old son Omar is known to have survived.

Children’s toys and a Monopoly board game could be seen among the rubble, as well as plates of uneaten food from the holiday gathering.