Gaza Attack Live Updates: An Israeli airstrike has destroyed a high-rise building that housed The Associated Press offices in the Gaza Strip. The airstrike Saturday came roughly an hour after the Israeli military ordered people to evacuate the building. There was no immediate explanation for why the building was targeted. The building houses The Associated Press, Al Jazeera and a number of offices and apartments.
The development comes hours after an Israeli air strike in Gaza city on Saturday killed at least 10 Palestinians, a majority of whom were children, AP reported.
Responding to the development, AP said in a statement: “This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.”
As the conflict between Israel and the Hamas continues to escalate, Palestine witnessed some of its most widespread protests in years. Hundreds of young demonstrators clashed with Israeli troops, leading to the death of at least 11 people so far, AP reported.
Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including the death Saturday of a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has called for foreign ministers of the world’s largest body of Muslim nations to hold a meeting Sunday. The gathering is to discuss Israeli acts of violence against Palestinians and the Israeli police’s use of force against protesters at Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
The kingdom will host the virtual summit, gathering ministers of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation “to discuss the Israeli aggression in the Palestinian territory,” particularly acts of violence in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the body said Saturday.
