Journalists wounded in Israeli air strike in Gaza

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17 Nov 2012

by admin

Six journalists were injured when Israeli military jets pounded several media outlets in Gaza enclave on Sunday.

Palestinian medical workers wheel a wounded local journalist on a stretcher to Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. (AFP)

A Saudi Arabian newspaper, Al Arabiya outlet was among the buildings hit when the jets struck a city media building in Northern Gaza. Two people were killed but their identities were not known.
The building suffered extensive damage and journalists assembled to cover the ongoing war have fled. According to media reports one photo-journalist lost his leg in the assault.
Imad Efranji, director of the al-Quds TV office, slammed the incident as “a new crime against the media.”
“It was the media battle that forced Israel to stop its killing of children and civilians last time,” he told AFP, referring to Israel’s December 2008-January 2009 Operation Cast Lead.
In the northern strip, Israeli war planes carried out two separate raids on houses that killed two and injured 10 others, Qudra said.
“Two young citizens were killed and at least ten others wounded in two separate raids on houses in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanun,” he said.
In Gaza City, as the Israeli air force attacked from above, Israeli naval forces opened fire, launching more than a dozen shells towards the shore, an AFP correspondent reported.
It was unclear what the shells had hit, with the Israeli military’s official spokesperson Twitter account saying only: “(A) short while ago, Israeli Navy targeted several Hamas terror sites in the Gaza Strip.”
Israel launched a massive air campaign on Gaza since last Wednesday with the declared goal of deterring Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Strip, from launching rockets that have plagued its southern communities for years.

On the ground, al-Qassam military wing spokesman said on Saturday that Hamas had launched more than 900 rockets on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in addition to downing an Israeli navel and a drone, reported Al Arabiya.