May 16, 2021 — The Israeli Defense Force has bombed Housing International Media, a complex that sheltered mainstream media including The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera.
Few hours before the Housing International Media was bombed on Saturday, the Israeli government gave a warning that it will bomb the building that houses the Al Jazeera offices and other international media outlets in Gaza City within the next hour.
In a statement seen by Nyamilepedia, one of Aljazeera journalists Safwat al_Kahlout expressed his frustration over the incident adding that he has been working at Al Jazeera for eleven years and now everything was plundered within seconds.
“I have been working here for 11 years. I have been covering many events from this building … now everything, in two seconds, just vanished”, Khahlout stated.
Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes on Gaza early Saturday and Hamas militants responded by firing rockets into Israel as the violence between the two sides continued for a fifth night.
Tensions were further heightened on Saturday as Palestinians marked Nakba Day or Day of the Catastrophe, commemorating the destruction of the Palestinian homeland in 1948 for the creation of Israel.
Responding to media criticism and protests in many cities around the world, the Israeli Chief of General Staff LTG Aviv Kohavi said the IDF is defending the Israeli citizens and they will continue to do everything in their power to protect their citizens.
“We are defending the citizens of Israel… and we will do everything to protect them.” IDF Chief of the General Staff LTG Aviv Kohavi said.
LTG Aviv Kohavi visited an Iron Dome Aerial Defense System battery in Southern Israel on Friday and spoke with soldiers and commanders operating the Iron Dome and commended them on their operational efforts to protect millions of civilians.
According to the Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, the Hamas militants have fired more than 1000 rockets into various parts of Israel within the last five days killing scores of Israeli civilians.
In response, the Israeli army are striking as many strategic sites and building including civilian residents in what they believe are attempts to defeat Hamas.
Asked of why they are attacking civilian residents, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Hamas are known for using civilian infrastructure for their military purposes.
“It was aimed at hitting or striking one of the most important strategic components, military components, that Hamas has, and that’s essentially an underground network of tunnels and bunkers and command posts.” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said.,
“Hamas, as a terrorist organization, like many other terrorist organizations, uses civilian infrastructure for their military purposes. What we made sure was that there were no civilians or noncombatants in any of those buildings before we struck it.” He continued.
