Supporters of the attack on the al-Jalaa building, which occurred last Saturday, claimed it contained vital Hamas electronic equipment and that the IDF had warned the people in it that the strike was coming, the report said.
However, another official in the room seemed to believe that any strategic importance of the equipment wasn't enough to justify destroying a building which houses important journalistic outlets, with the damage to Israel's standing in the world outweighing the damage done by the equipment which was allegedly in the building.
While some are now saying the strike was a mistake, one top official said he had no regrets about it, saying shortly after the bombing that "if Israel had not taken the action, Hamas would have realized that it could shield its resources from attack by placing them near media facilities," the Times reported.
Israeli officials said after the strike that they had conveyed intelligence to certain US officials that they said justified the strike, but have not yet made that information public, drawing harsh criticism from world powers.
The IDF issued a vague statement after the bombing, saying that fighter jets had struck a multi-story building “which contained military assets belonging to the intelligence offices of the Hamas terror organization,” but has so far refused to reveal what evidence Israel had before approving the strike.
The targeting of the building, The Jerusalem Post has learned, was approved by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi as well as by Defense Minister Benny Gantz, with a military source telling the Post “We are 100% confident this was a legal target.”
The Biden administration has expressed repeated concerns over the bombing of the al-Jalaa building, with both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki releasing quick statements stressing the importance of journalist safety and independent media.Yaakov Katz contributed to this article.