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The journalist Clarissa Ward managed to return to the Palestinian enclave and, in particular, to visit a hospital. A “frightening” and “heartbreaking” experience, she testified.
Published on December 15, 2023 3:17 p.m
Reading time: 2 minutes
Bombed buildings in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, December 15, 2023. (ABED RAHIM KHATIB / ANADOLU / AFP)
A CNN team managed to enter the Gaza Strip unaccompanied by the Israeli army. The American broadcaster, which was the first Western media to broadcast an independent report on the situation in the Palestinian enclave, published the images on Thursday, December 14. They show the scale of the catastrophe, “the horror of modern war,” as journalist Clarissa Ward describes it, and evoke a “frightening” and “heartbreaking” experience.
Despite American pressure to reduce the intensity of attacks and protect civilians, Israel has relentlessly shelled the Gaza Strip since the terrorist attack on its soil on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people, according to the Jewish state. For its part, the Hamas Ministry of Health assures that 18,787 people (70% of whom were women, children and teenagers) were killed in the Palestinian enclave.
Clarissa Ward and her colleagues Scott McWhinnie and Brent Swails were able to go to the south of the territory, where many Gazans sought refuge. “Despite the intense bombardment, people outside are wandering around like zombies – perhaps trying to think about their lives, perhaps with nothing else to do,” CNN reports, describing blown-up buildings, queues outside a bakery and standing water in the streets where the December cold sets in.
“It was scary, it was harrowing and a very sobering experience.” @clarissaward reflects on what she saw after gaining rare access to southern Gaza.
CNN is the first Western media outlet to gain access to this part of the enclave.
Ward's full report from Gaza will be broadcast today. pic.twitter.com/OnfcxVBhw5
— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) December 14, 2023
The journalist, used to war zones, and her team filmed the situation in a field hospital set up by the government of the United Arab Emirates in Rafah, near the Egyptian border. During the report, the detonation of an air strike sounds. “This happens at least 20 times a day,” said the hospital’s medical director, Abdallah al-Naqbi. Clarissa Ward does not hide her emotions as she meets, in tears, next to her mother, an eight-year-old girl who was seriously injured in a bomb attack and whose pelvis was broken. She also spends a few minutes with a 20-month-old orphan who was disfigured after an Israeli attack.
A newly orphaned baby with a forehead wound. An 8 year old in a full body cast. A 13-year-old is missing a leg. @clarissaward got a rare glimpse into a hospital in Gaza.
Full report here: https://t.co/P4zEbJsDY6 pic.twitter.com/5RSGNRffKs
— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) December 14, 2023
The reporter then stops at the bedside of a 20-year-old patient who studied engineering at university before the war began. Her leg was amputated. “The world doesn’t listen to us. Nobody cares about us,” says the young girl. “We have been dying because of the bombings for more than sixty days and no one has done anything.”