Israeli officials play down IDF chief’s comments about bombed Gaza tower
Defense Minister Benny Gantz dismissed Kochavi's comments as illustrative, not literal.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz sought to dispel concerns over recent comments by the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, about Western journalists’ use of a building also allegedly used by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Kochavi was quoted by Israel’s Channel 12 news on Sunday as saying that Associated Press and Al-Jazeera journalists whose offices were in Gaza’s al-Jalaa building likely drank coffee with Hamas electronic warfare experts in the building’s cafeteria, either wittingly or unwittingly.
Gantz on Monday played down Kochavi’s statement as illustrative, not as a genuine allegation. The Associated Press slammed the comment as “patently false,” adding that the building had no cafeteria.
Israel’s air force bombed and destroyed the al-Jalaa building May 15 after warning occupants, including employees of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press, to evacuate.
