Israeli Ops Target Journalists: Turkish Media Union

Israeli military onslaught in Gaza is posing a threat to media outlets, which are working to reflect the realities to the world, head of a leading Turkish media workers' union said Tuesday.



"Journalists have increasingly become targets of Israel's attacks in recent days," Gursel Eser, chairman of the Medya-Is trade union, said in a written statement.



He voiced concern over reports that Israeli troops launched an attack on Tuesday on a building containing offices of several media outlets in Gaza.



The tenth floor of the building, which contained Anadolu Agency's Gaza bureau, in the west part of the Strip, was hit and badly damaged by Israeli bombing on Tuesday. There were no reports of casualties.



Eser said that the Israeli army had carried out the attack deliberately, since Anadolu Agency had conveyed its office's coordinates to Israeli security authorities via Turkey's diplomatic mission in Gaza.



"Israel is openly threatening a media outlet which has been reflecting truths to the world with its live broadcasts and reporters at the scene," he said.



Israel, which has ignored UN resolutions against its actions in the Occupied Territories many times before, began military operations in the Gaza Strip on July 7.



At least 1,191 Palestinians have been killed, mostly civilians, and more than 6,550 injured in the relentless Israeli attacks, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.



According to official Israeli figures, 53 troops and three civilians have been killed since the hostilities began.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Ankara