Israel bombs Gaza building used by Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera and AP after one-hour ultimatum

Israel on Saturday launched air strikes on the Al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza, a 12-storey residential building also used by Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera, the Associated Press and other international and local media.

The Israeli army had given the media outlets one hour ultimatum to evacuate the building in the besieged Gaza Strip ahead of a possible air strike, MEE correspondent said.

Al Jazeera correspondent said the offices have been used by the channel for the past 15 years, and that the staff has not been able to empty the offices of important archives and equipment.

Al-Galaa Tower collapses after several Israeli air strikes on 15 May, 2021 (MEE) — Al-Jalaa Tower collapses after several Israeli air strikes on 15 May, 2021 (MEE)

Follow Middle East Eye's live stream from Gaza here.

Al Jazeera has aired a phone call between the building's owner and an Israeli intelligence officer, asking to be given more time to evacuate equipment from the offices, but the officer has declined the request.

Several journalists are posting live tweets expressing outrage at the Israeli bombardment and the short notice.

After working tremendously hard over the past two weeks to report to the world the events in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, the Palestinian Territories, and in Israel, our offices are threatened with a 1 hour notice to vacate their office for it to be bombed!#JournalismIsNotACrime
— Mohamed Moawad (@moawady) May 15, 2021

Middle East Eye's photojournalist Muhammed Hajjar has also been forced to evacuate the building.

My colleague Muhammed Hajjar, a photojournalist for @MiddleEastEye just told me he won’t be able to send some photos because they were asked to evacuate the building as it will be targeted and completely levelled to the ground by Israeli airstrikes in a few minutes. pic.twitter.com/x60P2ZbkUE
— Maha Hussaini (@MahaGaza) May 15, 2021