Senior Israeli General Admits Mistake of Destroying Al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza

Israel bombed al-Jalaa Tower in central Gaza in May 2021. (AP)
Israel bombed al-Jalaa Tower in central Gaza in May 2021. (AP)
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Senior Israeli General Admits Mistake of Destroying Al-Jalaa Tower in Gaza

Israel bombed al-Jalaa Tower in central Gaza in May 2021. (AP)
Israel bombed al-Jalaa Tower in central Gaza in May 2021. (AP)

A senior general in the Israeli reserve army admitted that the operation to destroy al-Jalaa Tower in the Gaza Strip was a grave mistake, causing Israel more harm than good.

“Bringing down the tower with world news media offices was equivalent to a self-inflicted public relations terror attack,” said Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, the former head of the Israeli army operations.

Alon, who led the military’s probe into the public relations-related issues linked to the recent conflict, was referring to Israel’s military operation in Gaza in May, dubbed “Guardian of the Walls,” during which the building was bombed.

“The operational benefit was not worth the damage that it caused diplomatically and in terms of perception,” he said.

Alon made his comments at a conference hosted by Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies about the importance of public perception during military conflicts.

Israel destroyed the 12-storey tower block in Gaza housing the offices of the US-based Associated Press and other news media on May 15, saying the building was also used by the Hamas group.

It claimed the building housed Hamas military intelligence, saying its personnel there were “developing an electronic jamming system to be used against the Iron Dome defense system.”

The Israeli military said the purpose of the strike “was to curtail these enemy capabilities, including destroying special equipment and preventing their use during the operation.”

“The strike was designed to collapse the building in order to ensure the destruction of the special means.”



Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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Gaza Civil Defense Says Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 29

A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A Palestinian girl, wounded in an Israeli strike that killed people, who gathered to collect water from a distribution point, according to medics, receives treatment at Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 29 Palestinians, including six children near a water distribution point.

The attacks came with apparent deadlock in a week of indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in the territory.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight, "including women and children" and wounding others.

An Israeli airstrike hit a family home near the Nuseirat refugee camp, south of Gaza City, resulting in "10 martyrs and several injured", Bassal said.

In central Gaza, six children were among eight people killed when a drone "hit a potable water distribution point in an area for displaced people" in the Nuseirat camp, he added.

Several other people were wounded, he said.

In the territory's south, three people were killed when Israeli jets hit a tent sheltering displaced Palestinians in the coastal Al-Mawasi area, according to the civil defense spokesman.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has recently intensified its operations across Gaza, more than 21 months into the war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack.

On Saturday, the military said fighter jets had hit more than 35 "Hamas terror targets" around Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

The vast majority of Gaza's population of more than two million people have been displaced at least once during the war, which has created dire humanitarian conditions in the territory.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency and other parties.