The French news agency confirmed that its office in Gaza was severely damaged by an Israeli strike, but announced that none of its team was harmed because the media crew was not present in the office. This comes just two days after the non-governmental organization "Reporters Without Borders" announced that it had filed a lawsuit before the International Criminal Court regarding the commission of "war crimes" against journalists during the war between Hamas and Israel.
With growing concerns about the safety of journalists in Gaza, the French news agency revealed on Friday that an Israeli strike had severely damaged its office in the besieged Strip. The Israeli army confirmed that it carried out a strike “near” the agency’s office, denying that it targeted the building “in any way.” None of the agency's media team members were harmed as they were outside the office.
The French Press Agency says it is the only international agency that broadcasts directly from Gaza City without interruption.
A collaborator with the agency who inspected the place said that an explosive shell appeared to have penetrated the room of the technical employee in the Gaza office, from east to west, in the last floor of the 11-storey building, destroying a wall in the room and causing severe damage to two adjacent rooms.
The blast also damaged the doors of other rooms on the floor and hit water tanks on the roof of the building.
In response to a question from the agency, an Israeli army spokesman said that its services “verified the information several times,” and that the army “did not carry out a strike on this building.”
An army spokeswoman said: “According to the information we currently have, it appears that there was an Israeli army raid near the building to eliminate an imminent threat.”
The spokeswoman continued, “It is very important to stress that the building was not targeted in any way by the Israeli army, and we have no indication that a target was missed in this raid,” adding, “There was an Israeli army raid nearby that may have caused the debris.” Without going into details.
According to a tally by Reporters Without Borders, 34 journalists have been killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, including at least 12 who were killed while performing their duties (ten in Gaza, one in Israel, and one in Lebanon).
The Israeli army announced last week that it cannot guarantee the protection of journalists covering the events.
He said in a letter addressed to Agence France-Presse and Reuters, "Under these circumstances, we cannot guarantee the safety of your employees, and we strongly urge you to take all necessary measures for their safety."
Condemnations of the strike
Fabrice Ferris, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the French Press Agency, condemned "the bombing of the office whose geographical location everyone knows," considering that "the repercussions of this strike could have been catastrophic if the agency's team had not been evacuated from the city."
A 24-hour live broadcast from the agency's camera from Gaza City showed that the strike occurred Thursday, a few minutes before noon local time (10:00 GMT).
Pictures taken on Friday of the exterior facade of the building, the last two floors of which contain the agency’s offices in the western Rimal neighborhood in Gaza City, near the port, showed a large gap at the office level.
No one from the agency's eight-person team in Gaza was present in the office at the time of the bombing.
Agence France-Presse journalists moved from Gaza City to the south of the Strip on October 13 after an Israeli warning to civilians to evacuate the northern area, where Israel carries out extensive military operations and considers it the center of Hamas operations.
When asked on Friday during a press conference in Tel Aviv about the attack, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stressed the necessity of protecting journalists covering the war in Gaza.
He also stressed that Israel must give "the greatest consideration to the protection of civilians, and this of course includes journalists."
He added that journalists perform “exceptional work in the most dangerous circumstances” to convey what is happening to the world.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the incident, calling on the authorities to publish information about what it described as an “attack.”
Judy Ginsburg, head of the New York-based committee, stressed that "journalists and media offices must be respected and protected."
In turn, the International Federation of Journalists stressed on Friday in a post on the X platform that “targeting the media is a war crime.” The Union continued, "We condemn the attack and call for an immediate investigation." .
In May 2021, during the previous war between Hamas and Israel, the Israeli army bombed a 13-story tower that housed the offices of the Qatari Al Jazeera channel and the American Associated Press news agency. Israel said at the time that it had intelligence information that made bombing the building “legitimate.”
On October 7, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack in the history of Israel, causing the death of nearly 1,400 people, most of whom were civilians who died on the first day of the attack, according to the Israeli authorities.
Since then, Israel has responded with devastating bombing of the Gaza Strip, killing 9,227 people, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
Media coverage from the Gaza Strip is very difficult, due to the danger of movement on the ground and interruptions in communications and the Internet.
