TV channel Al-Jazeera evacuated its bureau in Gaza when it came under fire on Tuesday, the Qatar-based network said.
Two warning shots were fired at the 11-storey Jalaa building in central Gaza City, housing local and international media as well as private apartments, an AFP correspondent reported.
“Two very precise shots were fired straight into our building,” said Al-Jazeera reporter in Gaza Stefanie Dekker, according to the channel’s English-language website.
The empty missiles were directed at Al-Jazeera’s office, prompting journalists, along with a number of families who had sought refuge there from Sunday’s fighting in Shejaiya, to leave.
The pan-Arab Al-Jazeera channel has offered extensive coverage from Gaza since Israel began its military campaign against the Hamas-controlled coastal strip on July 8.
The channel “holds Israel responsible for the safety of its team in Gaza after its bureau came under fire,” Al-Jazeera Arabic-language channel said.
Ynet news website quoted Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman as saying on Monday that Al-Jazeera “stands at the heart of the propaganda of terrorist organisations”.
Al-Jazeera accused Lieberman of “direct incitement” against it.
The channel is funded by gas-rich Qatar, which backs the Islamist Hamas movement.
Source: Prothom Alo
