‘The livestream was critical evidence’ – Tracing attacks on Gaza’s press buildings
FP’s server room located on the 11th floor of the Hajji Tower, which was partially destroyed by an Israeli strike on 2 November 2023
Léa Peruchon reports in +972 on 26 June 2024:
It was 2 a.m. on Oct. 10 when Adel Zaanoun, a journalist with Agence France-Presse (AFP), made a worried call to his superiors. The AFP team had just received an order from the Israeli military to evacuate its offices in the Hajji Tower at the heart of Gaza City, a sign that the building might be bombed.
Only a few hours earlier, AFP Chairman and CEO Fabrice Fries had shared the address of the building with the Israeli military spokesman in a letter, in order to avoid any possible targeting.
“Should we evacuate or remain in the building?” Zaanoun asked Marc Jourdier, AFP’s Jerusalem bureau chief, on the other end of the line. “Don’t waste a minute – evacuate,” Jourdier responded. “I’ll call the army and get back to you as soon as possible.”
The building was ultimately spared that day, but an Israeli strike a few hundred meters away killed three Palestinian journalists who had come to cover the expected attack. The Israeli military called Marc Jourdier back later that night to say that the Hajji Tower was now classified as “not to be targeted.” Less than a month later, Israeli tanks fired on the offices.
This is not the first time journalists have been ordered to evacuate their offices in Gaza due to the threat of Israeli bombing. “The Israeli military has a history of attacks on media structures,” Carlos Martinez de la Serna, program director at the Committee to Protect Journalists, explained in an interview.
In May 2021, for instance, three Israeli missiles destroyed the Al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza City, which housed offices of Al Jazeera and The Associated Press (AP). The Israeli military cited an imminent threat posed by Hamas’ presence in the building, but when questioned publicly, provided no evidence to support this claim.
Since October 7, in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, the Israeli military has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip. As a result, media infrastructure has been destroyed at an unprecedented rate and scale, and news coverage from within the besieged enclave has been highly constrained.