Media under attack

At 1.35am, the office of Press Screen Media in the Shawa and Hussani building, Gaza City, was targeted by an Israeli Apache helicopter and hit with one shell.

Later in the morning, the building was hit by 3 additional shells in a second attack.

7 journalists and trainees were injured, including one teenager. A 20-year-old man lost his leg and he is not out of the woods yet.

We attended a press conference outside the building, where journalists held up pieces of the shells and signs protesting the attack.

As we climbed the stairs to view the destroyed office, we saw bloody footprints and broken glass on the steps.

The scene was a surreal meeting of the mundane and the grotesque. Office chairs grey with dust, computers smashed to pieces, gaping holes in the roof and walls.

A second media office in the Al Shorouq building was also shelled this morning. Since then, international journalists have reportedly received messages from Israeli forces, telling them to leave the building.

Radio station signals have been jammed, and Israeli messages have been broadcast.

Under international humanitarian law, media personnel are given special protection in times of war. This means nothing to Israel.