On May 15, Israeli airstrikes levelled the al-Jalaa tower, an 11-storey building that housed the offices of Al Jazeera and the Associated Press in the Gaza Strip. Just a few days earlier, the Israeli military had also bombed the al-Henday, al-Jawhara and al-Shorouk towers, which together housed more than a dozen local and international news agencies.

The towers targeted by Israel were among a handful of high rises that were built in the Gaza strip in the last 20 years to meet the local population's commercial, social and educational needs.

Before the attacks, these towers were some of the very few locations in the blockaded enclave that enjoyed relatively uninterrupted services, in particular, electricity sourced by their own generators. As a result, they attracted hundreds of families as residents, and were hosting not only numerous media offices but also several local businesses, law firms, medical labs and civil society organisations. Also serving as a cultural and social hub, they were central to the daily lives of many Gazan youths.

The full article originally appears in Al Jazeera English.