Journalists group condemns strike on Gaza media

JERUSALEM-Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday struck two high-rise buildings housing international media, drawing sharp criticism from the Foreign Press Association.Two journalists were moderately wounded when Israeli fire hit a Palestinian media center that works with international media and is located two floors above the Reuters news agency. TV footage showed the wounded men in flak jackets marked "press" being rushed to the hospital.It was not clear if the building was hit by ground fire or by aircraft.Bullets also flew into the office of The Associated Press in another building several hundred yards away, entering a room where two staffers were working. No one was wounded.Media organizations had given the Israeli military the locations of their offices in Gaza to avoid such incidents.The Foreign Press Association, representing journalists covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, demanded a halt to attacks on press buildings, saying the Israeli military was "severely violating basic principles of respect for press freedom."The organization called the attacks "unconscionable breaches" and demanded assurances such attacks would not happen again.The Israeli offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers began Dec. 27. The assault has caused widespread damage and killed nearly 1,100 Palestinians, roughly half of them civilians.Julian Rake, the deputy bureau chief for the Reuters news agency in Jerusalem, said the strike hit around the 14th floor, two floors above the agency's office.Reuters had repeatedly provided the military with the coordinates and address of the office, he said. "The military knows what it is, and where it is, and have assured us it is not a target,"Rake said.In a statement, the Israeli military said it targets only locations used by Hamas "for terrorist purposes," or to fire at Israeli troops or civilians."The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is currently involved in an operation against the Hamas terrorist organization, which, supported by Iran, deliberately and cynically operates from within civilian areas," it said.Rake said his staffers and other journalists in the building were certain that "at no stage" did militants fire from inside the building.
By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_israel_gaza_media
As in the days of Noah.....