Israel Kills Palestinian Journalists, Attacks AFP Office

Two Israelis Slain, One Soldier and One Civilian

by Jason Ditz, November 20, 2012

The Israeli military continued its attacks on media outlets in the Gaza Strip today, killing three journalists and bombing an Agence-France Presse office in a pair of attacks. Israel has repeatedly targeted media outlets in recent days.

Officials conceded today’s attack, saying they deliberately targeted the journalists and accusing them of having “militant ties.” Since Israel has maintained Gaza’s domestic media are “not legitimate” in the first place, the distinction is unclear.

Two Israelis were also killed in today’s exchange of fire, one civilian and another identified as a member of the Israeli military, the first Israeli army casualty since the attack began a week ago.

Of course the overwhelming majority of casualties on both sides have been civilian in nature. Israel’s military leadership has struggled mightily to balance calls to escalate with the reality of very limited numbers of real targets, and yesterday admonished commanders on the ground to not just attack “random houses,” which appears to have been the cause of the death of a family of 12 over the weekend.

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