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05-11-2023
GAZA CITY: The day after an explosion that seriously damaged Agence France-Presse (AFP)’s Gaza office, the Israeli army, which has shelled the Palestinian territory for weeks, claimed Friday it carried out a strike “nearby” to the agency’s bureau without having “in any way” targeted it.
AFP is the only one of the world’s three major international news agencies currently operating a live video feed from Gaza City which has not been interrupted despite the damage, seen by an AFP employee Friday.
The unmanned AFP camera broadcasting live 24/7 captured the moment of the strike, a few minutes before midday (1000 GMT) on Thursday.
An AFP employee who visited the office on Friday said an explosive projectile appeared to have entered the technician’s office in the bureau horizontally from east to west.
The strike destroyed the wall opposite the window and caused significant damage to the adjacent room and other doors. It also punctured water tanks on the roof.
An Israeli military spokesman initially said they had “checked (the report) multiple times”.
“There was no IDF (Israel Defense Forces) strike on the building” in Gaza, he told AFP.
Following further questioning by AFP, the army said it had carried out a strike near the building.
“According to the current information we hold, it seems that there was a IDF strike near the building to eliminate an immediate threat,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“The building was not targeted in any way by the IDF and… we do not have any record of a missed target in that strike,” the statement said.
“There was an IDF strike nearby that might have caused debris.”
Images published by AFP on Friday showed a gaping hole in the wall of the 11-storey building in the west of Gaza’s Rimal neighborhood, near the port.
“AFP condemns in the strongest possible terms this strike on its Gaza City bureau,” said Fabrice Fries, AFP chairman and chief executive.
“The location of this bureau is known to everyone and has been pointed out several times over the past few days, precisely to prevent such an attack and to allow us to continue to provide images on the ground.
“The consequences of such an attack would have been devastating if the AFP team on the ground had not evacuated the city,” said Fries.
None of AFP’s eight staff usually based in Gaza City were in the bureau at the moment of the strike. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
