The Qatari-owned Al Jazeera news network held the Israeli government responsible for "targeting" the network's office in Gaza City on Tuesday, attributing the attack to "incitement" by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
"We consider inciting statements by the Israeli government as a direct threat to us and a green light for targeting our crew in Palestine," the network said in a Tuesday press statement.
Al Jazeera held the Israeli government fully responsible for its crew's safety following an Israeli artillery barrage on its Gaza City office earlier in the day.
The network's staff managed to evacuate the building safely, although the office sustained damage, Tamer al-Mishal, an Al Jazeera correspondent in Gaza, told Anadolu Agency following the attack.
"The coordinates of our office are known to the Israeli authorities," the network asserted.
The network vowed to continue to broadcast from the Gaza Strip, where for the last two weeks Israel has continued to wage a devastating offensive, resulting in enormous human and material losses.
Since July 7, Israeli warplanes and naval assets, and more recently ground troops, have pounded the embattled coastal enclave with the stated aim of halting Palestinian rocket fire.
At least 612 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and 3745 injured in the unrelenting attacks, according to Gaza health officials.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was quoted by Israeli daily Haaretz on Monday as saying that his government sought to bar Al Jazeera from broadcasting from Israel.
He accused the network of being a "branch of a terrorist organization" due to its funding by Qatar, which supports Gaza-based resistance faction Hamas.
"We will remain committed to our highly professional editorial policy," the network said.
Several journalists have reportedly been wounded in separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has accused Israel of killing Palestinian cameraman Khaled Hamed when it indiscriminately shelled eastern Gaza City's Shujaya neighborhood.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) asserted in a statement Friday that it was "alarmed" by Israeli airstrikes on buildings housing media outlets in Gaza, saying the Israeli military knew the locations of these outlets.
Israel's military operation, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populated Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
By Ahmed al-Masri
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
