The Biden administration was reportedly shown “smoking gun” evidence proving that Palestinian terrorists were in an office building that they shared with The Associated Press and that was later leveled during an IDF airstrike.
“Israel shared intelligence with the US showing how Hamas operated inside the same building with Associated Press and Al-Jazeera in Gaza,” The Jerusalem Post reported. “The U.S. was the only country to inquire about the IDF strike on the building, which the military said housed Hamas military intelligence offices, as well as AP and Al Jazeera, other news outlets, and other offices and apartments.”
“We showed them the smoking gun proving Hamas worked out of that building,” a source close to Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told The Jerusalem Post. “I understand they found the explanation satisfactory.”
The source further added that approximately 72 out of the 90 countries that Israel’s Foreign Ministry has talked to in recent days have released public statements supporting Israel’s right to defend itself amid the Palestinian terrorist attacks.
The IDF released the following statement after striking the building:
A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a multi-story building which contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization.
The building contained civilian media offices, which the Hamas terror organization hides behind and uses as human shields. The Hamas terror organization deliberately places military targets at the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the Gaza Strip.
Prior to the strike, the IDF provided advance warning to civilians in the building and allowed sufficient time for them to evacuate the site.
“I want to see what would happen if one rocket was fired on Washington. They are firing salvos toward civilian populations,” IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman said in response to a question about the IDF striking a building that house terrorists and The Associated Press. “We are in the middle of an operation. If Hamas and PIJ think they can hide behind the media, their buildings are not something they can hide behind.”
The IDF’s strikes on terrorist targets inside Gaza comes after terrorists with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have fired approximately 3,000 rockets at Israeli citizens over the last week, killing nearly a dozen people and wounding hundreds. Out of all the rockets that the terrorists have launched at Israel, approximately 450 have landed inside Gaza.
Christians from around the world have donated more than a dozen portable bomb shelters to Israel in recent days with nine shelters already in route to be delivered and another six shelters already having been ordered in an effort spearheaded by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ). The shelters have mostly been placed in areas where schools, daycares, hospitals, and youth centers are located.
“In total, the organization, with the support of Christians worldwide, has given 118 shelters to southern Israeli communities, working in conjunction with Operation Lifeshield to ensure the shelters are built to Israel Defense Forces standards,” The Jerusalem Post reported. “Most of the shelters have been donated to schools, daycare centers, medical clinics and youth centers – places that cannot operate without adequate bomb shelters.”