CNN’s Clarissa Ward and her team took cover in a ditch from a “massive barrage of rockets” during a live report on Monday from near the Israel-Gaza border.
As the crew ran for cover, one team member can be heard in a clip reassuring others, “You’re fine, you’re fine, you’re fine, you’re OK, you’re alright.”
Ward, the network’s chief international correspondent, caught her breath and then continued her report while lying in the roadside ditch.
“Are you seeing our situation, guys?” she asked, adding “fuck, fuck,” as more loud explosions were heard.
“Forgive me, I’m in a slightly inelegant position, but we have just had a massive barrage of rockets coming in here, not too far from us,” she said.
She said they were about five minutes from Gaza, and “we came to this location because this was ground zero for this entire operation of carnage.”
“Hamas militants came on a pickup truck. This was the first place where they breached that border wall. And they basically drove down this strip, just spraying lead wherever they went,” she continued.
NBC News’ chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and his team were also forced to take cover from mortar fire on air while reporting near the Gaza border.
Hamas militants on Saturday morning launched a surprise attack on Israel, breaching the country’s border fence, laying siege on civilian communities near Gaza and taking hostages back to the Palestinian enclave.
Israel formally declared war on Sunday and retaliated with force, bombarding Gaza with missiles.
More than 1,500 people, including many civilians, have been killed on both sides. Thousands more are wounded.
The Israeli military said early Tuesday it had “restored full control” over the border, although infiltrations could still be possible, according to the Associated Press.
Watch Ward’s report below.
