Russian TV office destroyed in Israeli attack on Gaza
Smoke billows as debris flies from the explosion at the local Al-Aqsa TV station in Gaza City on November 18, 2012, after it was attacked during an Israeli airstrike.
Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:54PM GMT
A Russian television network says its office in the Gaza Strip has been destroyed as buildings of press agencies are hit in the latest wave of Israeli aggression against the besieged Palestinian territory.
The Moscow-based Russia Today news station reported that the office on the top floor of the Showa Media Center "was destroyed after (an) Israeli airstrike hit the building" on Sunday, AFP reported.
The attack comes after the office of Iran's English-language Press TV channel in Gaza was hit twice in the Israeli aerial assaults.
During the bombings, a Press TV cameraman sustained injuries. He is in stable condition at a hospital in Gaza.
"At least six journalists were wounded, with minor and moderate injuries, when Israeli warplanes hit the al-Quds TV office in the Showa and Housari building in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City," Hamas Health Ministry Spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.
Most of the reporters evacuated after an initial strike, but they later returned to the site only to come under another assault.
Witnesses said the strikes caused extensive damage to the building.
The latest wave of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has claimed at least 53 lives since November 14. Ahmed al-Ja'abari, the popular and influential leader of the Hamas military wing, the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, was assassinated in an Israeli attack on his car on Wednesday.
On November 16, Ahmed Abu Jalal, a field commander of the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the district of Maghazi in central Gaza.
Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in the Palestinian territory on Saturday, after Israel's cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists, preparing for a possible ground invasion.
The Israeli military frequently carries out airstrikes and other attacks on the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, in violation of international law, disproportionate force is always used and civilians are often killed or injured.
Gaza has been blockaded by the Israeli regime since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
MP/SS
http://www.presstv.com/detail/2012/11/1 ... za-attack/
