Israel Levels Parts of Gaza in Retribution for Hamas Terror Attack Transcript

Welcome to the News Hour. A third day of brutal fighting between Israelis and Palestinians centered on Gaza today, and it continues tonight.

Israel has hammered the region with airstrikes and artillery in retribution for Saturday’s bloody terror attack by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the offensive has only begun and that the ferocity of Israel’s reprisals on Hamas will “reverberate with them for generations”. An Israel ground invasion of Gaza is widely expected to start in the coming hours and days.

And already there are staggering death tolls. Over 900 Israelis dead, thousands more wounded, while in Gaza, nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed. Among the dead so far, according to President Biden, are 11 Americans. Special correspondent Leila Molana-Allen is on the ground in Israel and begins our coverage.

Towering plumes of smoke rose over the Gaza city skyline …

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… as the Middle East woke up to another day at war.

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Airstrikes pounded Jabalia, a refugee camp north of Gaza City. Moments earlier, this was a bustling supermarket. Bulldozers dug through the twisted wreckage of daily life as crowds of people searched beneath the rubble for survivors.

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As shelling devastated the Gaza Strip, Palestinians mourned 17 members of the Shamalakh family, killed when their home was destroyed.

Israeli forces hit the building without warning. They did not ask us to evacuate. They did not say anything. Suddenly we heard the airstrike and we ran to the building. We found out that it collapsed entirely.

Israel’s military said it’s hit more than a thousand targets in the besieged enclave. The attacks have eviscerated downtown mosques like this one and left over 120,000 Gazans displaced.

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Israel also says it leveled the northeastern neighborhood of Beit Hanoun, which had been used as a staging ground by Hamas-

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… the militant group that staged its unprecedented incursion into Israel over the weekend.

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Today, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, long at odds with Hamas, defended the surprise attack.

These events and their consequences are the result of the Israeli government’s policy of practicing the worst forms of aggression, killing, land confiscation, assault on holy sites, and the terrorism and heinous practices of the settlers.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded.

We have always known who Hamas is. Now the entire world knows. Hamas is ISIS, and we will defeat it just like the enlightened world defeated ISIS. This vile enemy wanted war and it will get war.

Israel’s defense minister also vowed to impose a total siege on Gaza.

There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed. We’re fighting against human animals and we’re acting accordingly.

The Israeli military has called upon some 300,000 reservists, possibly pointing to a major ground offensive in the days to come. Major Ben Wahlhaus is a spokesman with the Israel Defense Forces.

We’ve cleared the southern Israel from Hamas’ militants, and now our highest priority is to stop the attacks coming out from Gaza, while this is going on for two days, absolutely nonstop rocket barrages towards Israeli cities, population centers, indiscriminately fired. So all options are on the table now in order to achieve that aim.

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Today the contested City of Jerusalem was also under threat. Air sirens blasted across the city as another barrage of Hamas’ rockets rained down.

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Aryeh Myers is a frontline worker with Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency service. For the past three days, he and his team have been responding to the attacks-

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… and treating injured civilians. He says the strikes are indiscriminate.

Several of our ambulances have come under fire. It’s something that I’ve never experienced. I’ve been a paramedic for over 20 years.

Hamas’ offensive thus far has focused mostly on southern Israel. Through the night, rockets from Gaza continued to fly over the border into Israel. In the City of Ashkelon this morning, emergency workers cleared the rubble after a rocket hit this apartment building, engulfing nearby cars in flames and destroying building facades, including Ofir Shasha’s.

We heard sirens. We heard explosions without a break. We heard bombing. The whole house was shaking. Thank God nothing happened to us.

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But hundreds were killed over the weekend in the nearby kibbutz of Re’im, after Hamas militants attacked an outdoor rave packed with thousands of young people.

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What was supposed to be a celebration of life became a massacre. This young reveler filmed a video as she tried to escape the bullets.

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Palestinian militants took dozens of Israelis hostage and shot at anyone they saw. Hamas’ armed wing said late today it will begin executing hostages if Israeli bombardments continue without warning.

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But Israel’s foreign ministry said negotiations are not on the table.

We’re not negotiating with anyone at this time. We’re in a war, and I think that this is not the time for negotiation and mediation.

That was Leila Molana-Allen reporting tonight in Tel Aviv.