PEN America calls Israeli strike on Gaza media tower ‘deeply disturbing’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An American organization promoting literature and freedom of speech has called an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza that was home to the offices of The Associated Press and other media “deeply disturbing.”

PEN America says in a statement after today’s strike that the only reason the world knows about the ongoing fighting between Gaza’s Hamas rulers and Israel is due to the “tireless, indefatigable work of journalists, risking their lives to inform the world.”

The organization demands a detailed accounting of why Israel launched the strike, which destroyed the high-rise building.

PEN America adds that “the resulting destruction will hobble the ability of professional journalists to do their work documenting a fraught, complex conflict at a critical time.”