Blinken has not seen evidence Hamas operated from bombed Gaza media tower

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said he has not seen any Israeli evidence that Hamas was operating from a tower block housing foreign media that was destroyed in a targeted airstrike.

The Associated Press and other media companies, as well as various international businesses including consultancy Ernst & Young, had offices in the tower block.

The Israeli military said the attack on Al-Jalaa tower, which has sparked significant backlash from global media and human rights groups, was due to it housing Hamas military intelligence officials. But Blinken said he had not yet seen evidence to support this claim.

The Associated Press, a large US media agency, has called on the Israeli government to “put forward the evidence.”

The company’s President Gary Pruitt said: “AP’s bureau has been in this building for 15 years. We have had no indication Hamas was in the building or active in the building. This is something we actively check to the best of our ability. We would never knowingly put our journalists at risk.”