About the AP’s (former) Gaza office

I wrote a lot last month about the protestations of the Associated Press when the IDF destroyed the high-rise Gaza office building in which it was holed up with fellow tenants including Hamas. The first post among several was “The AP goes Sgt. Schultz.”

AP executives demanded information supporting the IDF’s targeted destruction of the building. Yesterday the IDF issued this announcement:

During Operation “Guardians of the Walls” the IDF struck the al-Jalaa building on May 15th, 2021. The site was used by the Hamas terror organization for intelligence R&D and to carry out SIGINT (signals intelligence), ELINT (electronic signals intelligence), and EW (electronic warfare) operations, targeting both IDF operational activity and civilian systems in Israel.

One of the main goals of these efforts was to develop a system that would disrupt the Iron Dome aerial defense system.

The purpose of the IDF strike was to curtail these enemy capabilities, including destroying special equipment, and preventing their use during the operation. According to IDF assessments, the equipment was in the building at the time of the strike. The strike was designed to collapse the building in order to ensure the destruction of the special means.

The target was of high military value to Hamas and was vetted according to rigorous procedures within the IDF, and in accordance with international law.

In light of the nature of the target, prior to the strike, the IDF provided civilians in the building advance warning. Significant efforts were made to enable civilians to evacuate the building. The evacuation process was meticulous, and as a result, no civilians were harmed.

This event should be put into context – Hamas intentionally operates within the civilian population of Gaza and does so in order to hamper the IDF’s operational activity.

The IDF will continue to maintain the security of Israeli citizens, while doing its best to prevent any possible harm to non-combatants.

On Monday Israel’s ambassador to the United States and the United Nations met with senior leadership of the Associated Press in New York, where he told them what Hamas was up to in the building. The JNS story on the meeting includes no quoted comments from the AP. I will withhold my own comments until I can ascertain what the AP has to say.

Via Elder of Ziyon (which has its own commentary).

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