NNA – Agence France-Presse#39;s Gaza City bureau was significantly damaged by a strike on the building, according to a staff member who visited Friday as the Israeli military relentlessly pounds the territory.
AFP is the only one of the world#39;s three major international news agencies currently operating a live video feed from Gaza City, which has not been interrupted despite the damage.
The unmanned AFP camera broadcasting live 24/7 captured the moment of the strike, a few minutes before midday (1000 GMT) on Thursday.
An AFP employee who visited the office on Friday said an explosive projectile appeared to have entered the technician#39;s office in the bureau horizontally from east to west.
The strike destroyed the wall opposite the window and caused significant damage to the adjacent room and other doors. It also punctured water tanks on the roof.
An Israeli military spokesman said the force had quot;checked (the report) multiple timesquot;
quot;There was no IDF (Israeli military) strike on the buildingquot; in Gaza, he told AFP.
Images published by AFP on Friday show a gaping hole in the wall of the 11-storey building in the west of Gaza#39;s Rimal neighbourhood, near the port.
quot;AFP condemns in the strongest possible terms this strike on its Gaza City bureau,quot; said Fabrice Fries, AFP chairman and chief executive.
quot;The location of this bureau is known to everyone and has been pointed out several times over the past few days, precisely to prevent such an attack and to allow us to continue to provide images on the ground.
quot;The consequences of such an attack would have been devastating if the AFP team on the ground had not evacuated the city,quot; said Fries.
None of AFP#39;s eight staff usually based in Gaza City were in the bureau at the moment of the strike.
The team was evacuated to southern Gaza on October 13, following an Israeli military order directed at residents in the north of the Hamas-run territory. — AFP
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