Israel's Invasion Begins

I'm Raj ABD rim and I'm a reporter in. the Jerusalem Bureau and I've been. covering the war in Gaza for the past. three. [Music]. weeks on uh Friday I was reporting out a. story about basically was a sentiment. that I was starting to hear a lot from. people that death felt. inevitable there's now more than 8,000. deaths in Gaza more than a third of them. children.

and we're hearing basically entire. families are being killed in one. strike I spoke to a woman in Gaza. hell her name. is and she told me that 70 members of. her family had been. killed Aunts Uncles cousins you know. she'd almost lost count of them.

and what she was telling me and what. I've been hearing a lot is that these. huge death tolls and when everybody. around you when everybody you love is. being. killed it just makes people feel that. their turn is. next the smell of death actually hangs. in the air because there's so So Many.

Bodies more than a thousand that are. under the rubble because they don't have. the the equipment or they don't have the. ability to get them. out I also spoke with a poet and an. essayist. AB and he was telling me about how when. you're sitting in your home or or. wherever you are and you hear the. approach of a rocket it the the sound.

feels like it's coming for you like it. feels like it's intended for. [Music]. you and I asked him some more questions. but I suddenly noticed that the messages. weren't being delivered and I wasn't. hearing back and it wasn't until a. little later that we realized that all. phone and internet in Gaza were. down.

it was very scary to have no eyes on the. ground and to not know what was. happening in the middle of a war. zone luckily our Stringer Amir her. husband actually has an Israeli SIM card. and she was able to message us okay just. to explain the situation here in Gaza. today in the street it's it's like a. really a a crazy situation I got a very. panicked message from her and you know. and In This Moment she's talking as a. Palestinian as a journalist as a mother.

people they are very scared and. terrified they keep asking us as a. journalist do you know what happened. what's the news is there is any. ceasefire where they bomb last night and. she told me that there was so much fear. and so much panic and so much confusion. on the ground because everybody was. worried what did this blackout mean and. what was Israel planning to do morning. uh we all fine here in the camp so far. we don't know what happened in Gaza we. even we cannot even in reach my family.

like my mom my sisters in Gaza City to. check how they are or if they survived. this night or not and that's the thing. with this blackout is that not only were. people inaz cut off from the rest of the. world but they were cut off from each. other during the night uh they were very. heavy bombing and uh a lot of clashes. like shooting we hear the shooting we. hear that there is like fight and what. was happening was that it was was the.

most intense night of the war so far in. terms of Israeli air strikes a lot of. Palestinians described it as the most. terrifying night they'd ever lived by. cutting the communication and the. telephone lines they cannot even people. call the ambulance or call the civil. defense or call anyone to come to help. them she was telling me about how the. the ambulance services because nobody. was able to call them they didn't know. where to go they are looking for the. smoke to know exactly where is the area.

of the bombing and they are asking. people around to reach the area where. they bomb so they can go and help people. so and so some of them were following. the sounds of people screaming or they. were basically just driving through the. streets looking for places that had been. recently hit with Israeli air strikes. and then suddenly Sunday morning the. phone and internet was was. restored people's phones were started. getting messages and a lot of it were.

messages you know of other family. members trying to check up on them but. also it was a lot of the news of what. had happened since Friday night and they. saw that Israel had started to conduct. its ground Invasion and this causes. obviously a whole new level of. [Music]. fear from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. Tavern and this is the. daily.

over the weekend the Israeli military. appears to have begun an invasion of the. Gaza Strip with tanks rolling into the. enclave and Israeli soldiers fighting. with Hamas. inside but the operation remained. shrouded in secrecy with Israel. revealing little about its. actions today my colleagues Rajah. abdurahim and Patrick Kingsley on the. latest escalation in the.

war it's Monday October. [Music]. 30th so Patrick we're reaching you on. Sunday at about 300 p.m. eastern time. and that's 900 P p.m. your time in. Jerusalem and we just heard from our. colleague. gja uh she was talking about how things. had changed in Gaza over the weekend.

and I'm wondering if you can tell us. what you know about what happened in. Israel over the past three days start on. Friday for me what did we start to see. happen early on Friday evening we began. hearing reports of a massive aerial. bombardment over Gaza but at the same. time we were hearing very little about. what was actually going on under those. bombs because it seemed like there was a. Communications blackout at that.

time the military was conspicuously. quiet it was hard to get any clear. answers from them about what was going. on in fact it was hard to get them to. pick up the phone and then finally at. around 900 p.m. adid this shroud of. secrecy and silence the chief military. spokesman came out and made a very vague. statement in which he said that Israel. was expanding its ground activity.

and as Friday bled into Saturday we. started to see the first footage of. Tanks inside Gaza and it started to feel. like this incursion into Northern Gaza. was something more than just the hours. long incursions that we'd seen on. previous nights but it wasn't until late. afternoon on Saturday that we felt ready. to call this the.

Invasion this was the start of the big. push that we've been expecting for 3. weeks and what was it about what. happened late afternoon on Saturday that. caused you to start calling it an. invasion firstly the fact they were. still there the fact that the military. still seemed to be there some 12 hours. after they entered secondly the. information we were getting from. military sources about the numbers of. troops that were now inside the.

number of Tanks the number of armored. vehicles the number of. bulldozers it eventually became clear. that this was a major invasive force and. while it wasn't some kind of Blitz Greg. Rush on Gaza City hamas's stronghold it. was nevertheless the start of what is. the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza and. Patrick what about Hamas what were they. saying Hamas made two brief. announcements or rather their military. wings made two brief announcement they.

said they were engaging troops um in the. north and also a bit further south and. that corresponds now to what we know. about the Israeli invasion they invaded. around those two places and clearly they. ran into Hamas Fighters what those. battles look like we don't really know. because there was so little information. coming out of Gaza and the Israeli Army. were also keeping very quiet about what. was going on why was the Israeli Army. keeping so quiet. it's not entirely clear but we think one.

reason was that it wanted to maintain. the element of surprise make Kamas. unsure about what was going on secondly. we think perhaps that Israel wanted to. avoid scrutiny and it wanted to avoid. outcry across the Middle East and to. avoid an immediate reaction from. Southern Lebanon where Hezbollah another. militia Allied to Hamas hold Sway and.

which Israelis had feared might launch. its own major attack on Israel if it. felt that Hamas was under threat due to. the ground Invasion so Israel making its. Advance during a communication blackout. and without formally announcing it. themselves created a a sense of. uncertainty about what was actually. going on that therefore made journalists. like us worry about reporting anything. and potentially also prevented groups.

like Hezbollah from making their own. reaction okay so this is The Invasion. that we were all anticipating but at the. same time you're saying it's kind of. different what makes you say that how is. it different than what we expected I. think we expected perhaps naively that. we would know what was going on in real. time that we'd have photography video of. something happening in retrospect we now. know certain details we know they.

entered from the northwest of Gaza at. least some of the forces Advanced down. the gazen coastline there's video now. that's been released from the Israeli. Army that shows tanks and other vehicles. moving along the beaches of Northern. Gaza a video has also emerged of a pair. of Israeli soldiers standing at top what. is believed to be Beachside Hotel. raising an Israeli flag we also.

understand that so far the Israeli Army. has not pushed that far deep into Gaza. it hasn't entered into Gaza City the the. biggest urban center of The Enclave it. appears to be waiting almost surrounding. the city and this has been accompanied. by many statements from Israeli. officials both in the military and. outside saying that this is going to be. a long long process and that they won't.

be charging into Gaza City as quickly as. perhaps we' expected 3 weeks ago why do. you think the Israeli military is taking. this kind of different approach do you. think that they were responding to. pressure from the US well you're right. that the US has been warning Israel not. to act out of emotion not to act too. swiftly to make sure that they have. clear plans in in place before moving in.

everyone's worried about the outbreak of. a regional war and it's quite possible. that this maneuver shrouded in secrecy. was intended to try and delay any. Prospect of regional reaction for as. long as possible until the invasion. seemed a fatal comple that could not be. stopped and perhaps that's why there was. essentially a day of UN certainty and. the fog over what was going.

[Music]. on and by the time that Benjamin. Netanyahu made a speech on Saturday. night in which he announced the second. phase of this. conflict the Israeli Army had already. been inside Gaza for more than 24 hours. and their presence was a fact rather. than a. possibility.

we'll be right. back so Patrick you told us that prime. minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a. speech on Saturday night what did he say. [Music]. as he said a number of. things. the first is that this is the second.

stage of the war and that was. significant because it confirmed what we. already gathered by ourselves by that. point which is that the invasion had. begun yet he didn't actually use the. word Invasion then he. said the war inside Gaza will be long. and difficult and we are ready for. it and that was perhaps aimed at the.

Israeli public that is going to have to. come to terms with many losses to its. own in the coming. [Music]. months he talks about meeting the. families of Israeli hostages who were. kidnapped during hamas's own invasion of. Israeli territory on October. 7th.

and he said we would exhaust every. possibility to bring our brothers and. sisters back to their families that was. an attempt to reassure the families of. the hostages who have enormous public. sympathy and support that this invasion. is not intended to come at the cost of. those hostages lives and what else did. Netanyahu say in the speech he talked. about one supreme goal to destroy the. murderous enemy and ensure our existence.

in our. land and that is maybe tilted towards. the international audience it's it's a. reminder that for Israelis they cannot. countenance living next to Hamas on its. borders for another minute and then. finally he says that this is our second.

war of independence the first so-called. War of Independence was in 1948 when. Israel's fledgling Army defeated several. Arab armies and Palestinian militias in. order to create the boundaries of the. modern State then that war was and and. remains a unifying event in the minds of. most Israel is because it was the. foundational event of the state of. Israel so by talking about it Netanyahu.

was trying to present himself as a. unifying leader someone that can bring. Israelis together after a period of. great division in Israeli. society and to to supporters that may. have felt credible to critics that would. have come across as very Hollow and to. Palestinians that same comment would. have felt very chilling but for. different reasons during the 1948 War. some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs or 80% of. the Arab population of mandate Palestine.

the territory that Israel was formed. from in. 1948 either fled their homes or were. forced to flee their homes never to. return and that moment in Palestinian. history is known as the NABA or. catastrophe it was hugely traumatic and. remains perhaps the defining moment of. the Palestinian experience and is seen. as almost the start of all of. Palestinian trauma over the past 75.

years so that was Saturday but on the. ground in Gaza things were still very. uncertain and it was very unclear what. was going on okay so that's Saturday. night today Sunday tell me what we've. learned now that the communications have. come back online we're learning that. once again there was devastating loss of. civilian life in. Gaza we're learning that the fighting. inside Gaza appears to have taken its.

first Israeli casualties the Israeli. military said this morning that Two. Soldiers had been wounded during the. fighting that started after the. invasion and we learn from the Israeli. military that they say that they have. hit. 450 military targets throughout Saturday. and early Sunday and those targets. include command centers observation. posts anti-tank missile launch posts and.

leaders of hamas's military Wing we also. know that they say that they hit 150. underground facilities some of which may. indeed be tunnels all these are. impossible to. verify so Patrick stepping back here for. a minute where do you think we are in. this war right now Netanyahu has said we. we are in a second. phase you know we don't know how many.

more there will. be where are we and where are we. going well the entire region is waiting. with baed breath to see how do hamas's. allies in southern Lebanon respond will. they up the anti will they launch. missiles and Rockets deeper into Israeli. territory or will they hold fire and. prevent a major escalation on the. Israeli Lebanese border inside Gaza we.

are braced for what many think will be. the bloodiest phase of what has already. been a catastrophically bloody war 8,000. Palestinians have already died, 1400. Israelis and the ground phase of the war. is thought by most analysts to be the. deadliest one once the Israeli Army. moves from the countryside outside Gaza. City into this City. itself and is met by Hamas fighters on.

their home turf emerging from secret. exit points from their tunnel Network. the war is going to get very bloody. indeed for Palestinian civilians also. for Hamas and also for Israeli soldiers. and quite what GZA will look like at the. end of it is. unclear.

we're at the edge of a precipice and we. don't know exactly where we where Gaza. are going to. [Music]. land Patrick thank you thank. [Music]. you the times reports that the United. States believes believes that Israel was. responsible for the communications loss.

in Gaza and that Washington had pressed. Israeli leaders to restore the service. on Sunday President Biden spoke with. prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by. phone and urged him to conduct. operations quote in a manner consistent. with International humanitarian law also. on Sunday as desperation in Gaza spread. thousands of people broke into un food. warehouses and took wheat flour and. other basic survival items more Aid came.

into Gaza from Egypt on Sunday in all 33. trucks but Aid groups said it was not. nearly. [Music]. enough we'll be right. back.

here's what else you should know today. on Friday the man suspected of killing. 18 people and injuring 13 others at a. bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston. Maine was found dead of an apparent. self-inflicted gunshot wound the. discovery of the perpetrator of. Wednesday's mass shooting and Ed a. sweeping Manhunt that had forced.

thousands of residents throughout the. region to remain in their homes. meanwhile questions continued to build. over whether more could have been done. to prevent the gunmen who officials said. had paranoid beliefs from owning a. gun today's episode was produced by. Jessica Chong Sydney Harper and Michelle. Banja with help from Ricky netki it was. edited by Patricia willins and Lisa Chow. contains original music by Alicia beube.

and Maran Lozano and was engineered by. Chris Wood our theme music is by Jim. brunberg and Ben lansberg of. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina Tavern see you. [Music]. tomorrow.