![]() “In our building, we have lots of families that we know for more than 10 years, we meet each other every day on our way in and out to the office.” “I even asked my colleagues if they’ve seen anything suspicious and they all confirmed to me that they have never seen any military aspects or the fighters even coming in and out,” he added. “I have been working in this office for more than 10 years and I have never seen anything ,” al-Kahlout said.ĪP VIDEO: Associated Press staff evacuated their office in Gaza City shortly before the building was destroyed in an Israel airstrike. However, it provided no evidence to back up its claims. The Israeli army claimed there were “military interests of the Hamas intelligence” in the building, a standard line used after bombing buildings in Gaza, and it accused the group running the territory of using journalists as human shields. When the request was rejected, Mahdi said: “You have destroyed our life’s work, memories, life. “No one is allowed to enter the building, we already gave you an hour to evacuate.” “There will be no 10 minutes,” the officer replied. “We respect your wishes, we will not do it if you don’t allow it, but give us 10 minutes.” ![]() “All I’m asking is to let four people … to go inside and get their cameras,” he told the officer. Jawad Mahdi, the building’s owner, also tried to buy more time. “We have a lot of equipment, including the cameras, other things,” he added from outside the building. “Just give me 15 minutes,” an AP journalist pleaded over the phone with an Israeli intelligence officer. He and his colleagues “started to collect as much as they could, from the personal and equipment of the office – especially the cameras”, al-Kahlout said. Moments earlier, the Israeli army, which has been bombarding Gaza for six straight days, had given a telephone warning that residents had just an hour to evacuate the building before its fighter jets attacked it.Īl Jazeera’s Safwat al-Kahlout also had to move quickly. “I myself helped two children of the residents there and I took them downstairs – everyone was just running quickly.” “And we were all running down the stairs and whoever could help children took them down,” she added. “We left the elevator for the elderly and for the children to evacuate,” the Palestinian freelance journalist said. ![]() Youmna al-Sayed had less than an hour to get to safety.īut with just one elevator working in al-Jalaa tower, an 11-storey building in Gaza City housing some 60 residential apartments and a number of offices, including those of Al Jazeera Media Network and The Associated Press, al-Sayed made a dash for the stairs. ![]()
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