No safe place, says journalist who fled from office block

THERE is no safe place in Gaza, a journalist said after an Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed the offices of the Associated Press and other media outlets.

While the Israeli military said Hamas was operating inside the building and accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, it provided no evidence to back up these claims.

AP staff and other tenants safely evacuated after the military telephoned in a warning shortly before three heavy missiles struck the building, collapsing it. Fares Akram was the last AP journalist to escape. He told of how he had fled before the strike: “I wish I could say I am safe here, but I can’t. In Gaza, there is no safe place.”

He drove away to safety and gathered with others to look back at the building. He said: “A small drone airstrike, followed by another and another. And then three powerful airstrikes from F-16s.

“The building that was home to some people, an office to others and both to me disappeared in a shroud of dust.”