Israel rolls back army chief’s comments on ‘coffee with Hamas’

Benny Gantz says military chief spoke figuratively when defending Israel’s bombing of Gaza media offices.

Israel’s defence minister has distanced himself from comments made by his military chief after Israel bombed a Gaza Strip high-rise housing Al Jazeera and The Associated Press offices as well as other news outlets, saying the remarks were not meant to be taken literally. In an article published on the website of Channel 12 news over the weekend, the military chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Aviv Kohavi, was quoted as saying “the building was destroyed justly” and he did not have a “gram of regret”. The article claimed Hamas used various floors of the al-Jalaa tower for “significant electronic warfare” meant to disrupt Israeli air force GPS communications.