Washington received further information about Israel’s destruction of a Gaza high-rise

Anthony Blinken said on Tuesday that Washington had received more information about Israel's demolition of a high-rise building in the Gaza Strip housing the local offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

“We did seek further information from Israel on this question,” Blinken said at a joint briefing with Iceland’s foreign minister in Reykjavik. “It’s my understanding that we’ve received some further information through intelligence channels, and it’s not something I can comment on,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Sally Buzbee The Associated Press top editor, said Sunday that she had not yet seen evidence from Israeli officials to justify the bombing, adding that her organization wanted an independent investigation into the incident.

The Israeli army said that its warplanes bombed the multi-story building due to its use by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and terrorist attacks were carried out from there, but no evidence was revealed to support this claim.

President Joe Biden's call on Monday to support the ceasefire appeared to go unnoticed, although the cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas had subsided shortly before that on Tuesday.

18 May 2021

Mary Gill