On the afternoon of May 15, local time, after Israeli forces blew up a building in Gaza with international media offices such as the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, the Israel Defense Forces issued a statement on social media saying that Hamas had “turned residential areas in the Gaza Strip into military positions” for a variety of “military purposes”, including intelligence gathering, attack planning and command, and communications.
The statement said that when Hamas used high-rise buildings for military purposes, it became a “legitimate military objective”. In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said it had “taken measures to ensure that civilians are not injured” prior to the operation.
The Times of Israel quoted an IDF statement as saying that the bombed international media office building contained “military assets” used by Hamas intelligence and accused Hamas of using several international media offices in the building as “shields”.
