Israel bombs AP building in Gaza
Military also strikes a refugee camp, killing 10 family members, mostly children.
GAZA CITY — Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes on Saturday, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing 10 family members in a refugee camp — most of them children — and pulverizing a building that housed the Associated Press and other news 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 dispatched, 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. President Biden, who has called for a de-escalation but has backed Israel’s campaign, spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Still, Israel stepped up its assault, vowing to shatter the capabilities of Gaza’s Hamas rulers. The week of deadly violence came after weeks of mounting tensions and heavy-handed Israeli measures in Jerusalem.
On Saturday, Israel bombed the home of Khalil 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 Hayeh’s fate or on any casualties.
The bombing of Hayeh’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 acknowledged only 20 deaths.
Since the conflict began, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza City’s tallest office and residential buildings, alleging that they housed elements of the Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, it turned to the 12story 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.
Netanyahu alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating in the building. Israel routinely cites a Hamas presence as a reason for targeting certain locations, 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 through 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 other occupants evacuated safely.
Soon after, three missiles hit the building, bringing it crashing down in a giant cloud of dust.
“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. “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,” he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the U.S. State Department to learn more.
Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al Jazeera Media Network, called the strike a “war crime.”
Early 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.
“There was no warning .... You filmed people eating and then you bombed them?” a neighbor, Jamal Naji, said, referring to Israel’s surveillance over the Gaza Strip.
The bombings took place a day after U.S. diplomat Hady Amr arrived in Israel as part of Washington’s efforts to de-escalate the conflict. Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a oneyear truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian intelligence official said Friday on condition of anonymity. The United Nations Security Council was set to meet Sunday.