2023.11.06 17:36World eye

AFPガザ支局に深刻な被害 イスラエル軍が「付近」で空爆

【ガザ市AFP=時事】イスラエル軍は3日、パレスチナ自治区ガザ地区にあるAFPガザ支局が入る建物「付近」を爆撃したと明らかにした。イスラエル軍は数週間にわたって同地区を攻撃しており、AFPガザ支局は2日の爆発でも深刻な被害を受けていた。(写真はパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区で、イスラエル軍の攻撃を受け大きな穴が開いたAFPガザ支局が入る建物)
 AFPは現在、世界三大国際通信社の中で唯一、ガザ市内から24時間態勢で映像生配信を続けており、3日にAFPスタッフが確認したところ、被害を受けたにもかかわらず配信は途絶えていない。無人カメラは、現地時間2日正午前の攻撃の瞬間を捉えていた。
 3日に事務所を訪れたAFPスタッフによると、支局内で技術者が使用している部屋に対して東から西に向かって水平に爆発物が発射されたとみられ、窓と反対側の壁が破壊され、隣の部屋と複数のドアも大きく損壊していた。屋上の給水タンクにも穴が開いていた。
 イスラエル軍の報道官は当初、AFPに対し、「(報告を)何度も確認した」が「イスラエル国防軍は(ガザにある)その建物を攻撃していない」と説明していた。
 しかし、AFPのさらなる問い合わせに対し、建物付近への攻撃を認め、報道官は「これまでに入った情報によると、差し迫った脅威を排除するために、イスラエル国防軍が建物付近を攻撃したようだ」と明らかにした。一方で、「この建物はいかなる形でも軍の標的にはなっておらず、今回の攻撃で標的を外した記録もない」とし、「付近での攻撃により、(建物が破壊され)破片が生じた恐れがある」と述べた。
 AFPが3日に公開した画像には、ガザ北部リマル地区西部で、港に近い場所に位置する11階建てのこの建物の壁に大きな穴が開いている様子が捉えられている。【翻訳編集AFPBBNews】
〔AFP=時事〕(2023/11/06-17:36)
2023.11.06 17:36World eye

Significant damage to AFP's Gaza bureau, Israel says it struck nearby


The day after an explosion that seriously damaged 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 neighbourhood, 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.
- 'Dangerous conditions' -
None of AFP's eight staff usually based in Gaza City were in the bureau at the moment of the strike.
The team was evacuated to southern Gaza on October 13, following an Israeli military order directed at residents in the north of the Hamas-run territory.
Asked about the attack during a news conference in Tel Aviv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that journalists in Gaza must be protected as they report on the war.
It's vitally important how Israel does this (conducts the war), including with the highest regard for the protection of civilians, and that of course includes journalists, Blinken told reporters.
He said journalists were doing extraordinary work under the most dangerous conditions to tell the story to the world.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the incident and called on the authorities to release information about what it called an attack.
Journalists and media offices must be respected and protected, said the New-York based organisation's president Jodie Ginsberg.
Targeting the media is a war crime, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.
We condemn the attack and call for an immediate investigation, the organisation said, sharing a link to AFP's footage of the incident.
- Previous incident -
In May 2021, during a previous Hamas-Israel war, the Israeli military completely destroyed a 13-floor building which hosted the US agency Associated Press (AP) and Qatar's Al Jazeera.
Israel at the time said targeting the building was perfectly legitimate as it was based on information from its intelligence service.
The ongoing war erupted when Hamas militants crossed from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
More than 9,200 people have been killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes unleashed to crush Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the health ministry in the Palestinian territory says.

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