Rights and Accountability 26 August 2014
The video above shows the moment the al-Basha residential tower was brought down by Israeli bombs.
Israeli occupation forces also bombed the so-called “Italian” tower, leaving only part of the building standing.
Palestinians gather around the remains of the al-Basha tower which was destroyed by Israeli missiles early on 26 August.
APA imagesThese are the second and third high-rises Israel has destroyed since Saturday, when it brought down the twelve-story Zafir 4 residential tower in Gaza City’s Tal al-Hawa neighborhood.
At least six Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in overnight Israeli air attacks across the Gaza Strip.
Italian tower
This video shows the moment the Italian tower was bombed and collapsed.
The building had sixteen stories, according to Ma’an News Agency, and housed a mix of family homes and businesses.In this video report, which shows the aftermath of the destruction, Muhammad al-Astal of Al-Quds newspaper interviews former residents.
“All of a sudden they called residents and said you have half an hour to evacuate the tower,” one man says. “As you see, I left with nothing but my night clothes.” Dozens of surrounding houses have also been evacuated for fear that what remains of the badly damaged tower will collapse onto them.Another woman interviewed in the video – her name is not reported – said that her family occupied three apartments in the building. They were all destroyed along with everything in them.
“All our memories are gone. We have started again from zero,” she tells al-Astal.
Home to many businesses
After Israel issued its warning that the al-Basha tower would be destroyed, one of its evacuated occupants, the Palestinian journalist Saud Abu Ramadan, spoke to fellow journalist Jehad Saftawi on a livestream from Gaza that was monitored by The Electronic Intifada.
Abu Ramadan said that he and many others had received calls from Israeli occupation forces warning that the entire fourteen-story tower was under threat.
He said that the building, in Gaza City’s Rimal neighborhood, housed offices of lawyers, doctors and a number of news agencies including Bloomberg News and agencies from Spain and Japan.
A short time after Abu Ramadan spoke, the building was destroyed.
Gaza doctor Belal Dabour tweeted this image showing what the building had looked like:
Massive destruction
According to the United Nations, Israel has already destroyed or severely damaged 17,000 buildings since its bombardment began on 7 July.
This destruction has left more than 100,000 people homeless.
Israel’s policy of destruction of high-rise buildings marks a serious escalation in Israel’s illegal attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The Israeli attack has killed 2,142 Palestinians, 516 of them children, according to the latest tally from Al Mezan Center for Human Rights.
Al Mezan condemned the “international silence” that is encouraging and enabling Israel to escalate its attacks on civilian objects across the Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday news broke of a reported long-term ceasefire deal that would include “the immediate opening of Gaza’s blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt and a widening of the enclave’s fishing zone in the Mediterranean.”
The reports, sourced to Palestinian officials, had not been confirmed by Israel.
Comments
indeed, Gaza city was
Permalink DigitalComic replied on
indeed, Gaza city was destroyed.
But real photos sent from Gaza to all over the world crushed Israeli excuses to put all responsibility on Hamas. Nobody of the world trusts Israeli excuses anymore.
To all over the world, the victims more than 2000 showed that Israel was brutal and abnormal country, and that Zionists violated the Palestinian human rights.
I hope that Gaza revives the beautiful city again.