Arabs react to Israel raid on Anadolu Agency Gaza office

RAMALLAH, GAZA, Palestine / ARAB CAPITALS The Ramallah–based Palestinian Fatah-led government, the Hamas Movement running the Gaza Strip, as well as Arab NGOs and figures condemned Saturday’s Israeli attack on Anadolu Agency office in the blockaded Gaza Strip. On Saturday, a building where Anadolu Agency’s office in Gaza was located was razed by Israeli warplanes. No deaths or injuries were reported in the attack. The Israeli targeting of the building, where the office of Anadolu Agency was located, is "an attempt to bring the witnesses away, in preparation for any follies or massacres that maybe committed in the [Gaza] Strip,” Ibrahim Melhem, spokesman for the Ramallah-based government and a member of Fatah told Anadolu Agency. The Hamas movement, for its part, said on Sunday it condemns “the Israeli crimes committed by the occupation against the Turkish media and charitable institutions operating in the Gaza Strip, foremost of which is Anadolu Agency office and the Yardim Eli Society.'' Israeli raid Saturday also targeted a building where the Turkish aid foundation “Yardimeli” is based in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate's Nasser Abu Baker, meanwhile, said that the Israeli attack on Anadolu Agency office was part of a “wide-scale war Israeli occupation authorities wage against the media institutions in Palestine”. President of the National Syndicate of the Moroccan Press (SNPM), Abdallah Bakkali, attributed the attack on Anadolu Agency to reporting “facts on Israeli crimes”. Muhammad Al-Tullabi, a Moroccan intellectual, meanwhile, saw the attack as "an expression of Israeli hostility against Turkey and the Turkish people." "This attack is a violation of all international laws and conventions, which guarantee freedom of press," he said. Spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood group, Talaat Fahmi, also condemned in a statement the Israeli attack on Anadolu Agency office in Gaza. "The Zionist entity that does not stop the bombing of besieged Gaza [Strip], the killing of its children, women and civilians and destructing their homes with no mercy has no shame to wage aggression,” on the office of Anadolu Agency, he said. Acting Director-General of Jordan’s official News Agency (Petra), Mohammad Al-Omari, for his part, expressed in a statement, his rejection of “the attack on Gaza and targeting places that are looking for the truth.” “We refuse to target any media institution (..) Anadolu Agency is an agency looking for the truth for the readers and we reject attacking it," he said. The President of the Mauritanian Journalists Union, Mohamed Salem Ould Dah, reacted to the Israeli attack on Anadolu Agency office in Gaza by saying that the attack “shows how aggressive Israel is." Mauritanian journalists' chief Mohamed Salem Ould Dah condemned Israel's destruction of a building housing the office of the Anadolu Agency in the Gaza Strip. Sakina Abdel Samad, secretary-general of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, considered the attack against Anadolu Agency office in the Gaza Strip as “targeting all journalists and the freedom of the press and anyone who speaks and exposes the Zionist occupation." "Targeting Anadolu Agency office in Gaza comes a day after the World Press Freedom Day and sends more than one message as it does not only target a media outlet but also is regarded as derogatory to the principle of freedom of the press," she said. Since Saturday, 25 Palestinians, including two pregnant women and two infant children, were martyred and more than 100 others wounded by Israeli air strikes. The escalation in the Gaza Strip started when four Palestinians were martyred, including a teenager, and 51 wounded on Friday in Israeli army attacks on Hamas-affiliated sites and a separate attack on a rally against the decade-long occupation and siege of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli assaults were met by Palestinian resistance factions launching 600 rockets towards Israeli settlements, killing four people, according to Israel.