Top AP editor calls for investigation into Israeli airstrike targeting media building

The Associated Press’s top editor on Sunday called for an independent investigation into an Israeli military airstrike that destroyed a Gaza City building housing the AP and other news organizations.

Sally Buzbee, the AP’s executive editor, said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” that the organization’s Gaza bureau had been in the al-Jalaa Tower for 15 years and had not previously been warned that Hamas was operating in the building.

The Israeli military launched an airstrike on Saturday towards the al-Jalaa Tower, giving the AP and others about an hour to evacuate. Israel says Hamas used the building for military intelligence and weapons development. 

“We are in a conflict situation,” Buzbee said. “We do not take sides in that conflict. We heard Israelis say they have evidence; we don’t know what that evidence is.”

“We think it’s appropriate at this point for there to be an independent look at what happened yesterday — an independent investigation.”

Here’s my interview with the AP’s @SallyBuzbee about the Gaza bureau bombing. “We’re looking for some temporary quarters” in Gaza, she said, and trying to ensure “that this does not disrupt the important mission of telling the world what is happening in this conflict right now.” pic.twitter.com/2ID4eb6hwj

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 16, 2021

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday repeated that the Israeli military targeted the building due to Hamas operating there. 

.@jdickerson: “It’s inconceivable you would have talked to [Pres. Biden] & not shared proof of Hamas in those buildings that housed the journalists. Did you share that with him?”
PM Netanyahu: “Well, we pass it through the intelligence services to our people, to those people.” pic.twitter.com/bVrxAmg8kv

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 16, 2021