A ball of fire erupts from the Jala Tower as it is destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza city controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, on May 15, 2021. Photo: MAHMUD HAMS / AFP

i24 News – The IDF fighter jets razed on Saturday afternoon a high-rise building in the Gaza Strip hosting the Hamas military intelligence units.

The Jala Tower complex in the Gaza Strip is also where the Gaza offices of several international news media outlets are based, including the Associated Press and al-Jazeera.

The tower’s owner had received a warning from the IDF ahead of the airstrikes, allowing the civilians inside to evacuate, media reports suggest.

The Israeli military accused the terrorist groups of using the journalists working in the building as human shields.

“The terrorist organization Hamas deliberately places its military assets in the heart of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” the army said.

In a statement issued shortly after the attack, Hamas threatened another major rocket salvo into central Israel in retaliation for the strike.

Red alert sirens went off earlier in the day in the area, with one Israeli killed in the Saturday afternoon barrage fired into the area.