ISRAEL CONDEMNED FOR DESTROYING AP, OTHER MEDIA OFFICES IN GAZA

Israel slammed the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, in a dramatic escalation that included bombing the home of a senior Hamas leader, killing a family of 10 in a refugee camp — eight of them children — and pulverizing a high-rise that housed the offices of the Associated Press (AP) and other media organizations, Fares Akram and Lee Keath reported for AP.

The Hamas militant group continued a stream of rocket volleys into Israel, including a late-night barrage on Tel Aviv. One man was killed Saturday when a rocket hit his home in a suburb of the seaside metropolis.

With a US envoy on the ground, calls increased for a cease-fire after five days of mayhem that have left at least 145 Palestinians dead in Gaza — including 41 children and 23 women — and eight dead on the Israeli side, all but one of them civilians, including a 5-year-old.

President Joe Biden, who has called for a de-escalation but has backed Israel’s campaign, spoke separately by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Since the conflict began, Israel has leveled a number of Gaza City’s tallest office and residential buildings, alleging they house elements of the Hamas military infrastructure. On Saturday, it turned to the 12-story al-Jalaa Building, where the offices of the AP, the TV network Al-Jazeera and other media outlets are located, along with several floors of apartments.

“The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today,” AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt said in a statement. We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza, he said.

“This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life,” he said, adding that the AP was seeking information from the Israeli government and was engaged with the US State Department to learn more. The White House later demanded that Israel stop attacking media offices.

The Israeli army tweeted on Saturday that the house of Khalil al-Hayya, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, had been attacked, Sara Lemel reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa.) The house served as "terror infrastructure," the army said, releasing a video of the attack.

According to Palestinian sources, however, al-Hayya was not in the house at the time of the attack. Separately, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Saturday that a house had been hit in the Shati refugee camp in western Gaza.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 10 members of a Palestinian family were killed, including eight children. Only 20 Hamas fighters had been killed in Israeli attacks. Civilians were also killed in Beit Lahi in the north of Gaza and in other locations, Wafa reported. An Israeli army spokeswoman said they were investigating the reports.

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