AFP news director calls for ‘transparent’ probe into Nov 2 strike on its Gaza bureau
A consortium led by investigative outlet Forbidden Stories and involving around 50 journalists from 13 organisations including AFP, The Guardian and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism group (ARIJ) took part in the four-month probe, according to AFP.
As part of the probe, AFP looked with other media into a strike on its Gaza bureau on November 2, after its staff had evacuated but while it was still broadcasting a livestream of the conflict from a camera on its balcony.
They found the strike to likely have been caused by an Israeli tank. The Israeli military has said the bureau was not targeted but damage to it could have been caused by a “shock wave or shrapnel” from another attack.
AFP global news director Phil Chetwynd has called for a “very clear and transparent investigation” from the Israeli authorities into the incident.
ARIJ also surveyed 239 surviving journalists from June 6 to June 16. More than 200 had been displaced from their homes by the fighting, it found. Seventy-two said they had lost family members, of which 11 reported their own children had been killed.