PARIS, June 25. /TASS/. A group of journalists from international news media determined that an Israeli tank opened fire at an AFP office in Gaza amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas, AFP reported, citing the group’s findings.
The group, which brought together journalists from such news organizations as the Guardian, der Spiegel and le Monde, wrapped up its investigation recently. It comprised about 50 people from 13 news outlets.
The strike on November 2, 2023 hit the AFP office on the top floors of the Hajji Tower high-rise in the Al-Rimal neighborhood as it was broadcasting a live feed of the bombardment of the Gaza Strip. There were no casualties in the incident, as reporters had left the city by then, but the strike demolished the server room.
Five experts analyzed satellite images, photographs of the debris taken the day after the strikes and footage broadcast by the agency, and said "with a high degree of certainty" that the office had been crippled by a tank shell fired from a distance of about 3 kilometers. They said only the Israeli army had such weapons. The experts also ruled out the strike was made by aircraft or drones, or by anti-tank systems in the possession of the Palestinian group. They conceded that an on-site investigation is not possible at this time because of the ongoing hostilities.
The IDF has denied it carried out the strike at the news agency's office, both immediately after the incident and in June of this year, when responding to a follow-up request that was made as part of the media investigation.
"The AFP offices were not the target of the attack, and the damage could have been caused by a shockwave or shrapnel," an Israeli military spokeswoman said, adding that the incident was being examined as part of an internal investigation.
The news agency reported that the strike on the AFP office came amid numerous attacks on news media offices since the beginning of the conflict.
The situation in the Middle East sharply escalated following an incursion of Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7, accompanied by killings of residents of Israeli settlements near the border and taking more than 200 hostages, including children, women and elderly people. Hamas cast the attack as a response to Israeli actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel declared a complete siege of the Gaza Strip and started striking the enclave and parts of Lebanon and Syria. Afterward, the IDF started a ground operation in Gaza.