PMW Exclusive: PA TV admits Israel warned civilians to leave building before attack

In this exclusive PMW video, an official Palestinian Authority source confirms the Israeli policy of warning Palestinian civilians to evacuate buildings that house terrorists and terror infrastructures in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, before they are destroyed. This has been a long held Israeli practice, even if it enables the terrorists to escape. Now an official Palestinian Authority source also confirms this.

A PA TV reporter recounts what he witnessed in Gaza:

Official PA TV reporter: “When they were informed that this tower will be attacked… the site was completely evacuated. The block, the street, the civilian buildings, and the residential buildings in the area - completely - including children and women, and we saw it…

The guard who works in this tower was warned through a phone call from the Israeli Security Agency. They told him word by word: ‘Evacuate the tower and tell them that this tower will be attacked. It will be attacked any moment.’ After this conversation this tower was attacked about two hours later.”

[Official PA TV, May 11, 2021]

In addition, Israel TV Kan11 got hold of a video of the guard during his actual conversation with the Israeli Security Services. In the conversation, he is heard repeating the instructions he received from Israel:

“How much, how much time do you need?… At least two or three hours? No one should come in? In other words, [I should] go to the tower, go to the tower and not let anyone come in?”

[Twitter account of Israeli TV Kan11’s reporter Nurit Yohanan, May 11, 2021]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented similar warnings in the past. When Hamas launched missiles at Israeli civilian areas in 2018, Israel warned Hamas’ TV station before it bombed its main broadcast building.