Israel is Waging a War on Truth in Gaza
- Israel is Waging a War on Truth in Gaza
by Sultan Barakat, https://www.aljazeera.com/
Why did Israel target buildings housing media organisations in Gaza?
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On May 15, Israeli air strikes levelled the al-Jalaa tower, an 11-storey building that housed the offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press in the Gaza Strip. Just a few days earlier, the Israeli military had also bombed the al-Henday, al-Jawhara and al-Shorouk towers, which together housed more than a dozen local and international news agencies.
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The towers targeted by Israel were among a handful of high rises that were built in the Gaza strip in the last 20 years to meet the local population’s commercial, social and educational needs.
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Before the attacks, these towers were some of the very few locations in the blockaded enclave that enjoyed relatively uninterrupted services, in particular, electricity sourced by their own generators. As a result, they attracted hundreds of families as residents, and were hosting not only numerous media offices but also several local businesses, law firms, medical labs and civil society organisations. Also serving as a cultural and social hub, they were central to the daily lives of many Gazan youths.
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As a result of the bombings, Gaza lost a key piece of its social and, perhaps most crucially, media infrastructure. Israel gave the journalists working at the al-Jalaa tower just one hour to evacuate their offices, forcing them to abandon much of their archives and equipment to be destroyed alongside the building. The bombing of the al-Jalaa tower drew criticism from international organisations, rights groups and several governments, including those of Israel’s allies.
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The Israeli military claimed that the tower housed Hamas military intelligence assets, and therefore constituted a legitimate target. However, as recently admitted by United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who routinely defends Israel’s actions, Tel Aviv has so far released no evidence to support these allegations. The Associated Press strongly denied that Hamas was active in the building.
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9 … I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a [a]synagogue of Satan.