“Shock and panic” Associated Press chief reports on an Israeli attack on a building in Gaza

The CEO of the Associated Press, Gary Pruitt, commented today, Saturday, that the Israeli army targeted a building housing media offices, including the US agency and the Qatari channel Al-Jazeera.

Gary Pruitt said in a statement that the American media establishment was “shocked and panicked” after the Israeli army destroyed a 12-storey building housing its offices and the offices of the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel, according to “Reuters”.

“They have known for a long time the location of our office and they know the journalists were there,” Pruitt said. “The organization was warned of the strike and journalists were evacuated in a timely manner,” he added.

The “Sputnik” correspondent reported that the Israeli warplanes completely destroyed the Al-Galaa Tower and turned it into a trace after an eye, explaining that the tower, which includes the headquarters of press offices and international news agencies, was targeted by four Israeli missiles.

For his part, the Israeli army spokesman for Arab media, Avichai Adrai, said that the destroyed building “contains military interests belonging to Hamas’s Military Intelligence,” and that “in the building there are civilian media offices that cover Hamas from behind and use them as human shields,” he said. .

The spokesman pointed out that before the raid, the Israeli army had warned “the citizens who were inside the building and gave them sufficient time to evacuate it.”

Al-Galaa Tower is one of the first residential towers built in Gaza. It consists of 15 floors and 60 apartments, and includes headquarters for companies and economic institutions, offices of Arab news channels such as Al-Jazeera, and international such as the Associated Press and local radio stations.