Gaza media clearly marking a car to signal "Press" as a measure of protection in the line of fire. Photos:Anne Poulsen/IMS

Local reporters in Gaza gave their eye witness accounts of the Gaza conflict to IMS and other participants in the mission of international media organisations 22-24 January 

During the visit to Gaza in the wake of the ceasefire, IMS' Anne Poulsen met representatives from various media operating in Gaza, who had experienced the consequences of the armed conflict.

The group, which was been convened by the International Federation of Journalists and the Arab Federation of Journalists, visited the Al Aqsa TV-station in Gaza City. Established and run by Hamas since 2005, the station was destroyed as it was hit by a bomb on 28 December, 2008. Mohamed Said Thurya, editor of the al-Aqsa TV Station, described the incident:

- Israeli aircrafts bombed the offices of Hamas' TV station al-Aqsa in the al-Nasr district of Gaza City. The station was left completely destroyed.

Mohamed Said Thurya also said that the television station was clearly targeted during the attacks.

- This is a civilian area, there are many houses around here. There were no rockets fired from here. Nobody hiding around here, he stated when meeting the group of international media organisations.

Affiliated to the militant Islamic movement Hamas, al-Aqsa is being accused of spreading propaganda against Israel. Mohamed Said Thurya denied the allegations, saying:

- We are not propagandists for Hamas, but for the Palestinian people. We are the only local TV stations that exists in the Gaza Strip and our aim is to represent to the world what is happening on the ground," he said.

Though no offices, Mohamed Said Thurya informed the group that the al-Aqsa station continues to broadcast from mobile TV units.

(Mohamed Said Thurya in front of the Al Aqsa TV station. Photo: Anne Poulsen/IMS)

The Media Tower

On 15 January the al-Shuroug Tower housing several media including Reuters NBC, Fox News, Al-Arabiya as well as Abu Dhabi TV was hit.

Ayman Ar-Rezi, journalist at Abu Dhabi TV was injured when the tower was bombed. He described, how he had been working from his office at the Abu Dhabi TV station in the al-Shuroug Tower when the building was hit:

- I was in my office on the 14th floor of the building. We had been filming out of the window for some hours. We had started editing the material, when our office was hit. I fell to the ground. I had lost conscience. When I woke up again, I found myself covered in blood and everything in the office destroyed. I was taken to the hospital. After one day, I had to leave, as there was already too many people in the hospital," explained Ayman Ar-Rezi.

For Ayman Ar-Rezi, there is no doubt concerning the background for the attack:

- It is clear that we were deliberately targeted. I think we were bombed, because the Israelis knew that we had material that they did not want to go on air.

According to Ayman Ar-Rezi, there had been rumors for days that the building would come under attack. Therefore, representatives from the media organizations in the al-Shuroug Tower had talked to a spokesperson in the Israeli Army, who had assured them that the building would not be targeted.

According to journalists from Reuters, coordinates of the office of Reuters in the al-Shuroug Tower had been provided to the Israeli Army at the onset of the war and the news agency had allegedly received assurances on several occasions that it was not a target.

Following the mission to Gaza, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Federation of Arab Journalists (FAJ) issued a joint statement in which they called for urgent action to improve the safety of journalists and media in the region.