BBC team narrowly avoids Israeli airstrike in Gaza

LONDON: A BBC team reporting on the conflict unfolding in Gaza and Israel narrowly avoided an airstrike allegedly carried out by the Israeli military on a nearby building.

The dramatic footage shows reporters diving for cover after the deafening sound of an explosion, before capturing the dramatic scene of a building collapsing.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for the strike, but it took place near areas frequently targeted by the Israeli military. Press teams are usually given permission to report safely from certain locations, but the BBC has not confirmed whether it believed the area to be secure.

In a separate incident, BBC reporter Rushdi Abu Alouf was forced to duck for cover after a massive explosion occurred while he was live on TV on Sunday night.

In the video, Alouf is visibly shaken by the blast and admits to presenter Maryam Moshiri that the strike was “quite close.”

Moshiri, who shared the clip on Twitter, later posted: “Rushdi and his teams moved away as soon as possible.”

Other journalists have also been caught in terrifying situations near the front line. Al Jazeera’s Youmna El-Sayed was reporting live on “barrages of rockets” entering Gaza when a fireball erupted behind her, forcing her to take cover and scream.

Israel intensified attacks on the Gaza Strip on Monday morning and ordered a “complete siege of Gaza” after declaring war and pledging to destroy the “military and governing capabilities” of its Hamas rulers.

So far since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Saturday, at least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel and almost 500 have been killed in Gaza, while thousands have been wounded on each side.