Israel airstrikes hit home of Hamas leader
Kill 10 in refugee camp; destroy AP, other media offices
Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes on Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp — most of them children — and pulverizing a high-rise that housed The Associated Press and other media.
The Hamas militant group continued a stream of rocket volleys into Israel, including a late-night barrage on Tel Aviv. One man was killed when a rocket hit his home in a suburb of the seaside metropolis.
With a U.S. envoy on the ground, calls increased for a cease-fire after five days of mayhem that have left at least 145 Palestinians dead in Gaza — including 41 children and 23 women — and eight dead on the Israeli side, all but one of them civilians, including a 5-year-old child. U.S. President Joe Biden, who called for de-escalation but backed Israel’s campaign, spoke by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The week of deadly violence, set off by a Hamas rocket Monday, came after weeks of mounting tensions and heavy-handed Israeli measures in Jerusalem.
On Saturday, Israel bombed the home of Khalil al-hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas’ political branch, saying the building served as part of the group’s “terrorist infrastructure.” There was no immediate report on alhayeh’s fate or on any casualties.
The bombing of alhayeh’s home showed Israel was expanding its campaign beyond just the group’s military commanders. Israel says it has killed dozens in Hamas’ military branch, though Hamas and the smaller group Islamic Jihad have only acknowledged 20 dead members.
Since the conflict began, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza City’s tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they house elements of the Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, it turned to the 12-story al-jalaa Building, where the offices of the AP, the TV network Al-jazeera and other media outlets are located, along with several floors of apartments.
“The campaign will continue as long as it is required,” Netanyahu said in a televised speech Saturday evening. He alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating inside the building. Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting certain locations in airstrikes, including residential buildings. The military also has accused the militant group of using journalists as human shields, but provided no evidence to back up the claims.
The AP has operated from the building for 15
years, including three previous wars between Israel and Hamas, without being targeted directly. 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 militants’ rockets arched toward Israel and Israeli airstrikes hammered the city and its surroundings.
In the afternoon, the military called the building ’s owner and warned a strike would come within an hour. AP staffers and others got out safely.
Soon, three missiles hit, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust.
“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza,” AP President Gary 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.
“This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life,” he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and U.S. State.
Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Aljazeera Media, called the strike a “war crime” aiming to “silence the media and to hide the untold carnage and suffering of the people of Gaza.”
In the early hours Saturday, another airstrike hit an apartment building in Gaza City’s densely populated Shati refugee
camp, killing two women and eight children.
Mohammed Hadidi told reporters that his wife and her brother’s wife had gathered at the house with their children to celebrate the Eid al-fitr holiday ending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. The only survivor was Hadidi’s 5-month-old son, Omar.
The blast left the children’s bedroom covered in rubble and smashed the salon. Amid the wreckage were toys, a Monopoly board game and, sitting on the kitchen counter, plates of party food.
“There was no warning … You filmed people eating and then you bombed them?” a neighbor, Jamal Al-naji, said, referring to Israel’s surveillance over the Gaza Strip. The Israeli
military did not respond to a request for comment.
In his call with Netanyahu, Biden expressed strong support for Israel but raised concern about civilian casualties and protecting journalists. U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived in Israel in an effort to de-escalate the situation. Israel rejected an Egyptian proposal for a 1-year truce that Hamas rulers accepted, an Egyptian intelligence official said Friday.
Mediators from Egypt, which works with Israel on security, are growing alarmed. Tensions began in east Jerusalem this month, when Palestinians protested attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a Palestinian families from their homes.