diplomatic and security priorities several of which the foreign ministry judge our coordinating closely to end the global. pandemic and to build back better so that we have in place a better stronger global health security system to prevent and if necessary mitigate the next pandemic and together we're committed deeply to the nato alliance which we agree is the bedrock of transatlantic security we've had american danish troops serving in us secretary of state is intent. on a trip which was already planned of course he was addressing the middle east. peace process which state they very much conflict between israel and palestine at the moment he said that the u.s. remains greatly concerned by the escalating violence. to have journalists and health workers have been put at risk but says the u.s. has been working intensely behind the scenes to bring the violence to end the u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and.

just to update you on what is actually happening on the ground israel continuing its bombing raids across the gaza strip despite the international calls for calm this is a factory inside a refugee camp that's been hit 198 palestinians 58 of them children have been killed in the past week and 30 troops are massed along the border as well firing artillery into gaza and hamas has launched more rockets into israel towards ashkelon and 10 people in israel have been killed by the hamas strikes in the past week. also palestine's fatah movement has called for a general strike across the occupied west bank on tuesday in protest against israeli aggression prime minister mohammad. the international community to act to end the violence. also.

slightly behind. must. be describes only. actions as a legal. illegitimate again this. must be there again there. must be some and. as well as presentation and assignment. of injecting. just briefly some other news as well coronavirus related this is the senior indian for all of just jamil who is resigned from a government coronavirus advisory group that looked into new variance he'd raise concerns the government was not paying enough attention to the more contagious strain and also written in the new york times that scientists are facing stubborn resistance to the evidence based policymaking all right you're up to date

with the news on al-jazeera that's mine up for today as well thanks for your company mohamed jump germans along next with the latest edition of inside story. the media under attack in gaza israeli air strikes flatten the tower containing the offices of al-jazeera the associated press and homes for palestinian families but in the age of social media can any side take control of the message this is inside story.

hello and welcome to the program on how much i'm jerome one of the main places for journalists to report on what's happening in gaza is now just a pile of rubble israel is being condemned for carrying out airstrikes on a building that houses the offices of al-jazeera the associated press and other international media staff were given just an hour to get out of our families and 60 apartments inside also scramble to collect what they could israel's military said how most operatives were using the 11 story building but hasn't provided proof that building where al-jazeera is there we are another strike or not terror. and the terror has come to. the destruction was broadcast live around the world as you see it a call that a clear act to stop journalists conducting their sacred duty to inform and the

associated press said the world will know less about what is happening in gaza because of what happened. but the idea. is that. on the ground people recorded and shared their footage online social media has transformed the flow of information about the conflict but activists have accused sites like instagram of blocking their posts israel's defense minister urged facebook in tick-tock to remove content that he says incites violence and terrorism a palestinian activist told us recently why social media is so important to people like her israeli media is really poets and israeli propaganda israeli poet for. stories couldn't reach anyone in the world today. shouts many people on the roads because we. could use our study the story we take the photos we took take the footage we take the stories and share them to the

world and this is why they started fighting against and fight against. press freedom advocates have accused israel of targeting the media since the start of its airstrikes on gaza over a week ago several journalists have been injured arrested or attacked and dozens of media offices have been destroyed reporters without borders condemned what it called israel's disproportionate use of force against journalists saying they should under no circumstances be treated as parties to the armed conflict in 2014 a palestinian rights group said indiscriminate attacks on media buildings have been a significant feature of israel's military offensive 5 years later amnesty international accused palestinian authorities in the occupied west bank and gaza of arresting torturing and violating people's rights to freedom of expression. a 2017 law in the occupied west bank imposed tight controls on media freedom anyone who posted criticism online faced up to 15 years in jail.

all right let's bring in our guests in ramallah nor are they a political analyst in tel aviv arson ostrofsky c.e.o. of the international legal forum and also in the ramallah saw the hejazi deputy regional director for the middle east and north africa at amnesty international a warm welcome to you all nor to let me start with you today press freedom groups have condemned this attack on the tower they accuse israel's military which claims that the building housed house military intelligence of trying to censor coverage of what is happening in gaza what's your reaction. i think what happened was a war crime and there is really no room to kind of debate that it was a building is a huge building it's not doesn't just cows media organizations including and as you know a.p. it also had many many holes it's a huge building in the center of gaza

a very prestigious building and it's the 3rd building that israel targeted this round of escalation of course targeting and killing a palestinian journalist is not new to the way israel operates during rounds of escalations it lost many friends and colleagues along the years while they were doing their jobs because they were in their jobs in different circumstances and in different years arson from your perspective when it comes to these rights groups and analysts who call this an attack on journalism that this is an attack on freedom of information and the free flow of information what do you say ok i don't think this is an attack by any means on the media this was an attack to you in squarely on hamas the question we have to be asking though is what i would these media companies companies brands to an internationally recognized terrorist

organization we know for a fact now that hamas had operations within that building we not for a fact but hamas had their research and development and their technical units their planning and carrying out terrorist attacks and all the time under the noses of al-jazeera a.p. and the other tenants presumably that were building so the question is why were they there and did they. and how did they not that hamas was not under their noses the entire time at the end of the day. israel is entitled to the right of self-defense israel. and trying to live in freedom it is that some us that is responsible for placing a big piece of their terrorist operations in there in a civilian building an infrastructure and therefore making it immaterial target any country know what would have done the same sense with this thread but nonetheless israel did still give tranced notice in mourning to all tenants but at the end of

day the responsibility for this is solely with the hamas for putting the media and jeopardizing the media in civilian areas which is in so an egregious violation of international law and arson let me just follow up with you very quickly about something you mentioned because you know the i.d.f. of course we know says that the building contained hamas military intelligence assets but you know a.p. c.e.o. gary pruitt he's called 'd on the israeli government to put forward the evidence that they have he said that a peace bureau has been in this building for 15 years that they've had no indication hamas was in the building or active in the building my colleagues up with the conduit in gaza it said that there was no indication that hamas was in the building is it not a reasonable thing to ask the israeli government to produce the evidence that they have that they say show is that how mass was in that building. i mean i find it very hard to believe that someone of the a.p. stature would not have not and that they're operating right and. right by us from

us as nice as how much has been there for a number of years now the questions we should be asking is why any jonathans of the questions that any decent professional journalist wants have been asking is why from us was operating and why were they willing to try quis so that for their sons i believe there is ample evidence evidence that that israel has certainly i believe shared with the united states administration but it is 9 for a fact that this was a place in which for months had planned terrorist attacks in which they had been taken to a unit in which the carried out research and development and again all under the noses of bikes al-jazeera and pm the question is really going to be asking is why even an american company or to be renting. from my internationally designated and u.s. there's a major terrorist organization from us and i just want to add again that both the and the a.p. have have denied those allegations that you were making against them nor i see that

you are reacting a lot to what arson is saying so i'm going to give you a chance to respond and they need it's just outrageous outrageous to find a way to continue just repeating spent in line to justify targeting not just media organizations again i want to remind the audience we're talking about scores of apartments scores of families that were made homeless by his bombardment there is such a thing that is you know called proportionality in international law even if we were to believe israel's allegations which i again say is false and as of yet unproven and israel never needed proof to attack journalists in the past. who was killed at a reuters. journalist there wrote there's a cameraman who was killed a few years back was killed while he was filming he killed his own demodex he wasn't in a in a building controlled by

a hammer that had mass or anybody else he was doing his job and yes that what does that and so many others so you know to to entertain with this line is just really beyond. beyond bearable there there should be no circumstance when attacking journalists and crippling the work of journalists who are there to do their job to tell the story of a people under siege and under occupation this is inexcusable and any excuse to do it is really just completely outrageous sought to have let me turn to you now amnesty international has over the years documented what it calls a pattern of israel restricting and attacking the rights of free expression do you consider what you saw yesterday the attack on the edge of that to. our in gaza to be in violation of international law absolutely and we think dicey should look into it as a possible war crime. of course took upton's the 1st as a part of collective punishment against the palestinians in gaza according to his

own human rights organization working on the ground there okies 51 residential buildings and highways starwars that have been destroyed in the recent military operation the other part than is silencing those who want to report than and express what is happening in terms of the. violations let me remind you of the viewers here that i understand the national has been prevented by israel from entering the gaza strip since 2012. this also fits in that into that pattern and indeed. we were what is happening currently does are we see it has happened before in the 2014 military operation and since then in dogs by the west bank in newsrooms with also attacking peaceful activists and attacking the price so it definitely puts these 2 very very worrying patterns arsen you heard there

mention the international criminal court and this gets to a point i wanted to ask you about because the i.c.c. opened an investigation into possible war crimes in the occupied palestinian territories the top prosecutor for the i.c.c. fatou bensouda said that the i.c.c. is now monitoring current violence closely and that the evolution of these events could also be something that they look at is israel not concerned about all this. israel is very concerned about the situation and had its concern about the loss of life is concerned about the fact that we have had over 3000 rockets raining down on civilian areas in his truck by the time i suppose said an islamic jihad terrorists there been at least 10 people that have died there been hundreds that have injured and thousands upon thousands of families including my dairy are in that are being forced to run to bomb shelter your previous guest spoke about proportionality let me ask what is a portion of the response here when i get 3000 rockets have been there's surely

more israelis have been killed i'm sorry but any time there are an innocent civilians to die that is a tragedy but israel will not and shall not defend or justify why we're defending our citizens from this exceptional tremendous waitress tara from gaza at the end of the day it is this from us that is committing a double war crime yet on the one hand by hiding behind palestinian civilians including a civilian structures like the media building here whilst they are targeting innocent civilians in israel no country in the world not israel or any country in the world what's to stand by that and will defend that and the i.c.c. for it's going to be prosecuting if it's going to be investigating and when it ought to be investigated by the from us and the palestinian islamic jihad as well as the best sponsors iran for initiating inflaming and carrying out these incredible waves of terror that we're experiencing right now no arson of course

just pose a question to you about those remarks you made regarding proportionality so many give you a chance to respond if you like. well i mean you know this this is a an old line that we've gone the whole used to a specialist in eons but let me just remind the viewers palestinians have been under israeli occupation for over half a century our daily reality under a foreign colonial military occupation it is violent every detail of it is violent palestinians in the gaza strip live and have lived under siege for 15 years under any israeli siege every detail of their life is controlled by israel their basic rights are denied by israel so when we talk about violence we need to put things in perspective and when we talk about israel defending itself we need to also remember that israel is the occupying power it actually has obligations towards the safety and well being of palestinians and not just israel as it certainly has no right to

traumatize groups allies in this process and that kill palestinians at will why is claiming self-defense much must maintain an illegal occupation for over half a century that the context of the story the story didn't begin with how much fire it rockets it didn't even begin with the hamas creating rockets or manufacturing rockets or even importing rockets if you will if that if that was the case it began with israel's occupation 8 percent because of israel's occupation because of israel's impunity because there are countries that are still willing to provide israel with cover to bankroll its violations and to provide it with military assistance that's why we're here we're not here because there's an organization the palestinian organization that suddenly woke up and decided to bring terror on israel as your guest would have that we're here because an entire people is denied

their basic rights crushed brutalized this process and then he you. not by the kind of rhetoric we've heard by an organist so it's you know we keep going back at this and we won't tire them out by reminding the world that we are. human beings entitle to the same rights as a lot of theirs and to have the colonizer claim the high moral ground this is simply not possible arson to look like you want to jump in go ahead. yeah except perhaps some people think that hamas is some kind of civil society it's organization were just operates a soup kitchen a mosque is anything but terrorists jihad a civilization so i'm remission and that is being sworn to israel's very destruction and i want to remind of a very very simple fact israel who left gaza entirely 1005 every person every settler every soldier left gaza completely we had hoped that gaza

would become a big peace but instead some us took over and is has now had a stranglehold over the people of gaza as well as the people in that in the south of israel right now instead of stockpiling covert vaccines hamas has been stockpiling rockets and rocks and tunnels to carry out terror attacks against israeli civilians are holding the very people of gaza hostage as well so we go to respect what the people of gaza and israel serve a better future but it is a must but is holding by the people hostage and that is a basic fact that we must recognize saw the human shit earlier that amnesty international is not allowed to work on the ground in gaza obviously that is an impediment to your work at a time when it is so critical to get those stories out of gaza and at a time when israel is being criticized for this attack on the other so that tower i

want to ask you how important it is for rights groups like amnesty international and others to get those media reports out of gaza not just those traditional media reports that we've seen t.v. outlets but also now more and more of the types of videos that are being shared on social media by far 'd younger activists you know stuff that's being shared widely be they video is be they info graphics about what's going on how much to groups like amnesty international and others rely on that to do the kind of work that your doing. first of all it is really crucial for us to be able to be on the ground and investigate allegations of crimes on the international law and human rights violations by both sides i mean when israel prevents us from entering gaza they're also preventing us from being able to investigate violations by the palestinian on groups then to your question about videos posted they are especially when we don't have access and even if when we do have access they're very crucial at this time we

look at these videos we in what we verify the information that geotagged information behind them and then we're able to cross match them with testimony and pictures that we take from elsewhere this is how we monitor the situation and this is how we're able to document especially when we are prevented from israel as well i mean if you allow me to come up just to go back to your on some of the comments that your guest from israel made 3 things 1st that if you would be investigating bustin on groups and see international otherwise groups have condemned the rockets indiscriminately rockets are a war crime and the i.c.c. would be looking into this 2nd issue of proportionality that test of proportionality is very specific to that into that it says 1st we need to be able to tell whether there was a larger building a legitimate military targets and a 2nd that that support personality applies to that one incident not to do that the target the of what's happening in the conflict 3rd the issue of gaza and israel

pulling out let me remind everyone that gaza has been under an illegal located 15 years since 2007 controlling every single bit that comes in the house in and out of gaza limiting how much fishermen can go into the sea and foreigners can form along the israel gaza border this illegal blockade is collective punishment as well as fatah how me just follow up with you very quickly about you know we've been talking a lot about the i.c.c. during this discussion the specter of the i.c.c. in all of this and you had said that perhaps they will use you know these videos that are emerging as part of their investigation do you think that the attack on the edge of that power is actually going to factor into the investigation you know in the long term. so i just said factors into our investigation you know not to say it doesn't i see it go you know they have their own question of

ways of doing that but but i believe that even as a that's a rights group but as a rights group that's documenting this and you know as a rights group that's you know alleging the war crimes were committed and say that it's important the i.c.c. looks at this do you think that it will factor in a major way into an investigation at some point what that's what we're going for we're going to for that to be factored in as well as the other 50 residential and high rise towers that israel has destroyed says that this military operation plus all the attacks that have caused civilians to lose their lives and that has started its civilian infrastructure is indeed we call on the i.c.c. to have a comprehensive investigation into a thing that is happening at the moment and going about since it started its jurisdiction into those bt which is joint 2014 so we certainly hope that it does additional be as comprehensive as possible nor there is as we mentioned before in the program sort of a new dimension to all of this in the fact that social media is playing such a large role in how information is being disseminated right now and you know we've

spoken a lot in the past week to palestinian young palestinian activists who are really frustrated with political leadership of the palestinians and really feeling like it's ineffective and that they basically need to take ownership of their stories and get them out to the world in a way that makes the world understand their plight better so let me ask you do you feel that at the moment these videos that are being shared widely these info graphics that are being created that are being put on sites like instagram and shared so widely do you think that this is changing the perception around the world is it changing the narrative is it changing the coverage. i think they're there you know paramount significance what is happening on social media was a long time coming for postilions it took them years decades to be able to crack open a small opening for their narrative and their voice to be heard by mainstream media

but when social media chain it was it was heaven sent it wasn't an abortion if you for the boyce list to be heard not just and but of palestine but in other places that do not usually invite media attention and focus and quite frankly that you know these platforms provided the list indians with a chance to connect with the outside world to tell their story their personal story not just their you know the story of what was happening and the politics of it of the gruesome details of it but just on a human level and to see that being censored and curtail the deceit palestinian voices being used to is really worrying because at the end of the day that free space that we thought we were a finally able to to you know reach out to the world through an end and receive solidarity through and offer solidarity to our others through is now being you know

that space is shrinking of course before that we've seen palestinian journalists also detained or harassed by israeli intelligence because of their posts on facebook a colleague of ours i met him out he was recently detained and sentenced to more than 3 months in prison administrative detention that is not charged no trial and he was specifically told this was because of his journalistic activities on social media at the time it was related to the elections so that space is very important and it has been on the you know under assault if you will but now that assault is far more comprehensive and system out. and i think you know these. should be ashamed of themselves for doing what they are although the higher it is they are kind of. told a story before it began. all right we have run out of times we are going to have to

leave the conversation there thank you so much to all of our guests new to our day arson ostrovsky and saw the hejazi and thank you too for watching you can see this and all of our previous programs again any time by visiting our website of 0 dot com and for further discussion go to our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story from the whole team here bye for now. but calling the drug chain and cryptocurrency disruptive technology all the way to

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the gaza strip the schools are used as accommodation for refugees israeli troops are massed along the border under foreign artillery in the.