http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1057129.html
Last update - 21:00 20/01/2009
Gaza reporter caught on tape confirming Hamas fired rockets near TV
offices
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: israel news, idf, gaza, hamas
Footage of a presenter on the Arabic language television station
Al-Arabiya apparently confirms that Hamas fired at least one rocket from close
to a building used by journalists during the 22-day conflict between Israel and
Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces shelled the building, drawing international
condemnation, and television networks with offices in the building denied that
rockets had been launched from anywhere nearby.
But the recording, filmed by an Israeli and released Tuesday by Israel's
Foreign Ministry, shows Al-Arabiya presenter Hanan Al-Masri saying that a Grad
rocket had been fired from a location near the studios at Al-Shuruk tower in
Gaza City. Al-Masri did not realize that she had been caught on camera.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
Al-Masri, a Gaza resident, has been a reporter for Al-Arabiya for three
years. She is filmed discussing other issues until she is apparently distracted
by the firing.
"...A rocket from here? It's here," she says and turns to look at a
window. "Listen, it's here, below the building..."
The production team tells Al-Masri that a rocket has been fired from a
nearby location. She then calls someone and says: "The rocket that was just
fired from here is a Grad?... It's as if it was fired from beneath the office.
It was very loud. I thought it was bombing but it was a rocket launch."
The Foreign Ministry says the film is proof that Hamas had fired from the
area of the studios.
Although the movie was filmed in one of the first days of Israel's 22-day
offensive in Gaza, and Al-Shuruk tower was bombed only towards the end of the
war, the Foreign Ministry views it as proof that Hamas did not refrain from
launching rockets close to members of the media, and perhaps even fired near
them in a bid to draw Israel into bombing the building.
<<0.gif>>
