UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “dismayed” by civilian casualties in Gaza and “deeply disturbed” by Israel’s strike on a building containing international media outlets, a spokesman says.
Guterres was “deeply disturbed by the destruction by an Israeli airstrike today of a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed the offices of several international media organizations,” his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, says in the statement.
Israel says the Al Jala building hid “military assets” used by the intelligence wing of the Strip’s Hamas rulers. The military also noted it warned those in the building before the strike and says it gave them sufficient time to clear out.
Fire and smoke rises from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike after the IDF warned the occupants to leave, Gaza City, May 15, 2021 (MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)
Gutteres was also “dismayed” by the “increasing number of civilian casualties, including the death of ten members of the same family, including children, as a result of an Israeli airstrike last night,” Dujarric continues.
The Israel Defense Forces said the strike was aimed at top Hamas officials who were meeting in the building.
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