Den sørafrikanske journalisten Paula Slier var i Midtøsten under Gaza-krigen i fjor, og oppsummerer tilstanden i området et år etter. Hun er en av få ikke-israelske journalister som rapporterer at Hamas brukte mediabygninger som base, slik den israelske hæren hevdet:
Colleagues in our sister organisation, Russia Al Yaum, said Hamas fighters had been hiding in the basement of the media building and they couldn’t go on air and admit it as otherwise they would have become targets. So, in this respect at least, when the Israeli army justified its attacks on media houses, they were telling the truth when they said fire was coming from them!
Hun beskriver også hvor overrasket hun var over hvor lite av Gazas infrastruktur som var blitt ødelagt av det israelske bombardementet. Bygninger som ble ødelagt, ble stort sett brukt av Hamas:
The pictures coming out of Gaza at the time showed constant bombing and explosions. The Israelis kept saying their operation had specific targets at which they were aiming and to be honest – I did see evidence of this. For example, there is a beach street with four hotels. Three had remained standing – but the fourth which was renowned to be a ‘Hamas hotel’ with Hamas sympathisers hanging out inside, had been bombed to the ground.
(Lenke via Backspin)