“Oh God, Gaza”
Israel’s army takes journalists into combat zones
November 5, 2023, 8:02 a.m
So-called “embedded journalism” was first practiced in the Iraq War. Now the Israeli army is also relying on reporters to accompany them in the combat zone.
A good week after the start of the Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army took journalists into the contested Palestinian territory. These included several Israeli and international media such as the US channels Fox and ABC. Mostly local journalists had been reporting on the war between the Islamist Hamas and Israel from the Gaza Strip for weeks.
Nir Dvori from the Israeli television station Channel 12 was seen in a segment on Saturday wearing heavy protective equipment with Israeli troops in a largely destroyed area. “Walking here on the streets, which were streets in the city of Gaza, you can see the destruction from the bombings, what the D9 (bulldozers) did here is just indescribable,” Dvori said. “Oh God, Gaza.” Dvori didn’t think he would come back here again.
Israel’s army withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and cleared more than 20 Israeli settlements. Two years later, the Islamist Hamas forcefully seized sole control of the coastal strip. Since the evacuation, Israeli citizens have been strictly forbidden from entering the Gaza Strip.
Shots at drone
Dvori reports in the video that the army destroyed everything that remained after air strikes in the area seen in the post. Now they want to “clean” the area. As the journalist speaks, shots can be heard. The soldiers identified a drone and fired at it, Dvori said. There are numerous Israeli tanks in the sandy area.
So-called “embedded journalism” was first practiced during the Iraq War. Military units take media professionals into their ranks so that they can report on the hostilities from close by.
According to the military, Israeli Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi also met Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. After the massacre of Israeli civilians in the border area by Hamas terrorists and the kidnapping of more than 240 people, Israel launched massive counterattacks in the coastal strip on October 7th. According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, more than 9,000 people have been killed so far.