6Transcript:
The Inside Story: Israel-Gaza: A Year of War
Episode 165 -October 10, 2024
Show Open:
Unidentified Narrator:
This week on The Inside Story…
On the 1st anniversary of the deadly Hamas terror attack on Israel… the conflict widens and conditions in Gaza worsen.
Plus, a look at Muslim Americans and the upcoming U.S. presidential election
Now on The Inside Story: Israel – Gaza… A Year At War
The Inside Story:
CARLA BABB, VOA Correspondent:
Hello and welcome to the Inside Story. I’m VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb in Washington.
The deadly October 7th Hamas attack into Israel... one that left over 12-hundred people dead and over 200 held in captivity... has led to a year of war that has expanded steadily throughout the region and according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health has led to the deaths of 40 thousand citizens of Gaza.
In Israel, nearly everyone has been affected; many have lost loved ones; others have had their homes and communities destroyed. VOA visited some of the hardest-hit sites. We start with the first of several reports from VOA’s Linda Gradstein.
LINDA GRADSTEIN, VOA Correspondent:
For Talma Atzili, it’s still October 7, 2023.
Her son, Aviv, was killed as he fought hundreds of Hamas gunmen who stormed their kibbutz, Nir Oz, less than a kilometer from the Gaza border.
Aviv’s remains are still being held hostage in Gaza, so a temporary grave has been set up for him at the kibbutz.
Talma Atzili, Kibbutz Nir Oz Resident:
Our community is still wounded, bleeding. And I can’t even think of what will be here. Both in terms of security and in terms of the emotional strength required to return to a place that has absorbed so much loss. I very much enjoyed walking barefoot, both inside the kibbutz and in the fields. And now I have this sort of feeling that the land here is soaked in blood and how can I continue to walk barefoot?”
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
One-quarter of Nir Oz’s residents were killed or taken hostage, and more than half the homes destroyed. In nearby Kibbutz Be’eri, more than 100 residents were killed, among them Hagi Avni, a father of five and member of the Beeri Security Squad.
His nine-year-old daughter, Eliel, writes his name on the wall of her former room.
Eliel Avni, Kibbutz Beeri Resident:
I miss my daddy. I wanted to say goodbye to my house before they destroy it and rebuild it.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
But many residents of Beeri and other Gaza border communities doubt that they will move back in.
Adi Pauker, Kibbutz Beeri Resident:
The question is – how to live here with some kind of arrangement, like with Egypt and Jordan. It’s impossible to continue living on the sword all the time. I don’t accept that there will be endless war next to me.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
A year on, hostage families still stage mass protest rallies demanding that the Israeli government bring back some 100 remaining hostages.
Avichai Brodutch from Kibbutz Kfar Aza began the protest movement days after his wife and three young children were taken hostage on October 7.
His family was released in the November hostage deal, but speaking at the ruins of his kibbutz, Brodutch says Israeli society still feels the trauma.
Avichai Brodutch, Kibbutz Kfar Aza Resident Male:
As a nation we have to remember this, as part of the Jewish history to remember. But personally, if you ask me, I’d like to live my life, to look forward, live in peace, after we suffered so much. I think we have a good opportunity to do it now, both sides suffered so much.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
But a year later, a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release seem far away. For those in Israel missing loved ones and their lost communities, October 7th, 2023, is never-ending.
Linda Gradstein, VOA News, in the Gaza border communities.
CARLA BABB:
In Gaza, the search for safety and basic needs is a daily routine. Especially for those..forced to flee from their homes. The United Nations says the conflict has displaced nearly two-million people. That’s 86 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population. Now, many live in refugee camps with limited access to food and medicine. Nedal Mandouna, Amjed Tantesh, and Enas Tantesh went to southern Gaza for VOA to see the living conditions at one of these camps and speak with some of the refugees. Dorian Jones reports.
DORIAN JONES, VOA Correspondent:
The Beit Lahyia camp in southern Gaza is home to 200 families.
One of them is the Salha family, who moved from northern Gaza after an Israeli strike destroyed their home.
A tent made of plastic sheets is now home to Warda Almoslami and her husband, Monder, and their five sons and two daughters. Each day is a struggle.
Warda Almoslami, Displaced Person:
Everything is difficult in our life because there is no water, electricity or any other necessities. The first thing we do every day is look for drinkable water. We fill [plastic containers] from the water stations and then we wash the children's faces, comb their hair, each one of us has our own daily tasks.
DORIAN JONES:
Today, it's 13-year-old Bana Salha's job to collect water from the water station. Bana, who, with the rest of the family, has moved four times since their home was destroyed, says she longs for her life to return to normal.
Bana Salha, Displaced Person:
We hope to rebuild our house because it was destroyed. We want to rebuild our house and go back to the north. We want to see our friends, our schoolmates, and our teachers and go back to our schools.
DORIAN JONES:
Bana's father, Monder, is a construction worker. This is the fourth time he has had to build tents for his family out of plastic sheets as they constantly moved to escape the fighting across Gaza. With temperatures set to dip as low as 8 degrees Celsius, Monder says he is doing his best to repair and prepare their latest tent for the onset of winter, as he has no money for a stronger shelter, because he cannot find work.
Monder Salha, Displaced Person:
Finding work depends on your relationship with the community. We are strangers here, even though we are [Gazans]. Because we are going from place to place region to region. With this war, there is no work.
DORIAN JONES:
Along with other women in the camp, Monder's wife, Warda, spends much of her day preparing food and baking bread in a clay oven. She sells some of the bread, bringing in a small income.
At the end of Warda's day, she takes a welcome break with other women, but she says their conversations are dominated by the war and the approaching cold, wet winter.
Warda Almoslami, Displaced Person:
The shelling is everywhere, in any area. It doesn't matter if there are people or not. In the markets, in schools, the shelling is everywhere. We are also afraid of the rain. We are not prepared for winter.
DORIAN JONES:
Multiple attempts at peace negotiations have failed. Israel says the war will only end with the destruction of Hamas and the return of all remaining Israeli hostages taken by Hamas during the attack it led on Israel October 7, one year ago.
DORIAN JONES:
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah is one of the few remaining medical facilities serving about ahalf of the Gaza Strip's nearly two million people.
For doctor Ibrahim Abusaqer, a refugee from the north of Gaza, every day brings more casualties from the fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Ibrahim Abusaqer, Doctor:
It's wartime. The wounded are expected to come at any moment. Anything is expected, problems and challenges, especially in the operating room. (We) are always thinking of how we could manage the situation, with the larger numbers of injuries that could come every single hour, how and where to find a place for them and to treat them.
DORIAN JONES:
Along with working to find beds for newly arrived patients, Abusaqer is the hospital's head of general surgery.
He starts his day visiting his patients, among them Eman Al-Raei.
Her mother, Reda Al-Rae, says her daughter lost her leg in an Israeli missile attack on their home and may need another surgery to save her other leg.
Reda says a lack of medicine compounds her daughter's agony.
Reda Al-Rae, Patient's Mother:
Sometimes, her screams fill the place. She almost dies from the pain. This happens to everyone else as well. Tonight, my daughter didn't sleep. She needs painkillers, medicine, and treatment. There is not enough. Thank God, though, for this hospital as it provides more services than it can handle.
DORIAN JONES:
Dr. Abusaqer spends much of his day in surgery. But he says he is always thinking about how to deal with shortages and searching for alternatives at a time when demands on the hospital are growing and resources are dwindling.
Ibrahim Abusaqer, Doctor:
Lack of medical equipment is overwhelming the capacity of the hospital. Most surgical tools are almost nonexistent. Asking for anything, the answer is always, "we don't have it, there's none left." The condition in the hospital is indescribable. Starting from the lack of medical supplies and surgical tools to the clinical capacity.
DORIAN JONES:
After a day of performing surgeries, largely on the war wounded, doctor Abusaqer makes another round. Thousands come in each month, and Dr. Abusaqer worries about how long he and the other staff can keep going.
Ibrahim Abusaqer, Doctor:
I don't know how it (the war) started and how it (the war) will end. But the injuries are beyond our capacity. This is beyond the power of any human being, doctor, hospital, or anyone. I don't know. How we endured the pain and fatigue, but we are still holding on. I pray that this war will end soon.
DORIAN JONES:
With diplomatic efforts failing and the war escalating, there's little hope that his prayers will be answered, or that relief will come for these patients, any time soon.
With Enas Tantesh, Nedal Hamdouna and Amjed Tantesh in Gaza, Dorian Jones, VOA News.
CARLA BABB:
Thousands of Israelis were injured in this past year of war. Most of them soldiers. VOA met an Israeli reservist whose company trains military units in how to respond to terror attacks. When he was critically wounded in Gaza, one of his own trainees saved his life.. As Linda Gradstein reports, Israel is one of the world's leaders in rehabilitation, but the ongoing war in Gaza has strained the country’s resources.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Yonty Bahat’s “Extreme Simulations” company trains Israeli security forces to respond to military and terrorist attacks, using manikins and rubber body parts.
But no simulation could have prepared Bahat, a 48-year-old Israeli reservist paratrooper, for being critically wounded in Gaza in the war against Hamas. He was hospitalized for six months, after his shoulder and lower leg were shattered.
Now he has begun the long process of physical and psychological rehabilitation at Beit Halochem, “The Soldier’s House,” including daily hydrotherapy.
Yoni Bahat, Disabled Israeli Army Veteran:
A very important part of the rehabilitation is the hydrotherapy. There are many things that water helps to start doing or do better. It’s also good for the mind.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
The Israeli army says that more than 10,700 soldiers have been wounded since the war with Hamas in Gaza began almost a year ago. One-third of those are suffering from trauma, while more than one-third have damage to their limbs, including nearly 70 amputees.
The head of the Tzahal Disabled Veterans Organization, Idan Kleiman, was himself paralyzed from the chest down when he was shot fighting in Gaza in 1992. He says that improved medical services on the battlefield, like combat paramedics performing emergency surgeries under fire, have saved many lives compared to previous wars.
But many soldiers who survived suffered very serious injuries. Kleiman says that budgets for expanded rehabilitation facilities have increased by 30%.
Idan Kleiman, Tzahal Disabled Veterans Organization:
We saw people lose two hands and one leg, two legs and one hand, and still keep breathing and coming into the hospital and surviving these injuries. People who were paralyzed, and the blind, and the people who got head injuries, very, very hard head injuries. So, the doctors’ challenges, all our facilities and our staff challenging, so many wounded that we never recognized before.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Israel is in the forefront internationally at treating wounded soldiers, using high-tech to make prostheses for amputees and for innovative rehabilitation techniques using virtual reality.
Intensive rehabilitation therapy, both physical and psychological, is essential for wounded combat engineer Erez Amsalem, who almost lost his leg in a suicide bomb attack in Gaza. He says that he and thousands of other disabled soldiers will be part of a new reality in Israel.
Erez Amsalem, Disabled Israeli Army Veteran:
I think, unfortunately, that every place I’ll go to – in the north, south, center – they will see a young man, walking with a cane. They will instantly understand that I was wounded in the war. No questions asked. And to our sorrow, it will become kind of normal. To see in the street, young people without arms or legs, young people with canes or wheelchairs. It’s sad that this will appear normal. I think this is one of the only things that the entire Israeli society can agree about. There are no disagreements about the issue of wounded veterans.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
The past year of war in Gaza has led to a sharp increase in the number of young Israeli soldiers wounded both physically and emotionally. The challenge for the country, with its population of just under 10 million, will be how to first rehabilitate them, and then integrate them into Israeli society.
Linda Gradstein, VOA News, Jerusalem.
CARLA BABB:
Israel has called for the complete destruction of Hamas, a goal that-one year into the war-some criticize as unattainable and one that is preventing a ceasefire that could save Palestinian lives and bring Israel’s hostages home. I asked Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh this week if the Pentagon agrees with those criticisms.
Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary:
We've been pretty clear that Israel has an absolute right to in terms of defending itself, going after those terrorists that attacked Israel and killed innocent civilians. You know, over a year ago now, how success is defined. That's something for Israel to really define, and that's not something that the United States can define, but they have every right to continue to go after Hamas that we know continues to operate in Gaza, continues to hold hostages, but haven't been able to come home for more than a year now, and continues to put innocent Palestinians in harm's way. By, you know, embedding in civilian infrastructure, Israel also must make sure that they're protecting civilians as they prosecute their campaign against Hamas.
CARLA BABB:
The U.S. has tens of thousands of forces in the Middle East all trying to deter malign actors like Iran from expanding the war in Gaza into an all-out regional war. But with Iran striking twice into Israel this year, and Israeli forces now conducting operations in southern Lebanon, reporters asked Singh if the Pentagon still believes the war is contained.
Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary:
What we are seeing is limited operations on that northern border to clear that Hezbollah infrastructure to allow Israeli citizens to get back into that northern area
Our assessment is that this conflict still remains contained, and we are doing everything our from our perspective, to ensure that it does remain contained,
CARLA BABB:
Hamas in Gaza and the far-better equipped regional power Hezbollah in Lebanon operate as Iranian proxies. Israeli forces killed top leaders of both groups following the Hamas terror attacks on Israel last October. Despite the losses, analysts say Iran remains a formidable power in the region. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Except for one night in April, when Iran launched over 300 missiles and drones against Israel, Iran has avoided direct conflict with Israel during the past year. But now analysts expect an Iranian response to the Israeli assassination of Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iran’s most powerful regional proxy.
Miri Eisin, International Institute for Counter-Terrorism:
I absolutely think they will respond. They will use the forces that they have built, some of them jointly, the Al-Quds Iranian Revolutionary Guard force and the Hezbollah force. I think that they will respond in the world. I think they will respond against an Israeli Jewish target, like they did against Argentina and Jewish targets in 1992,3,4.”
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
With Iran’s support, Hamas continues to fight Israel in Gaza, its military force weakened, but not destroyed.
Even after the assassination of Nasrallah and other military commanders, Iran’s proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon continues to fire missiles at Israel, with over 8000 launched since October 7 according to Israeli officials.
Another Iranian proxy, the Houthis in Yemen, have also launched ballistic missiles at the Tel Aviv area, two of which were shot down last week.
The past year of multi-front attacks against Israel is the culmination of a decades-long Iranian strategy to gain control of the Middle East, according to Israeli analysts.
Eyal Pinko, Former Israeli Security Services:
When you see the Iranian force building the military, the covert operations, the proxies — Hamas, Houthis, the Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, Hezbollah — all of those lead to the point which allows Iran to get control and to be the superpower of the Middle East.
Meir Litvak, Tel Aviv University:
We are a smaller country with limited resources. We cannot fight forever. Iran is ten times bigger in its population, 80 times bigger in its territory. // They can wage a fight against Israel because they deploy Arabs who are fighting for them, bleeding us and bleeding our economy.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Israelis say their armed forces may be stretched to the limit by a year of continuous fighting on multiple fronts. If Iran launches a full-scale assault, Israel may need the support of the United States, which is already sending a second aircraft carrier and additional troops to the region.
Linda Gradstein, VOA News, Jerusalem.
CARLA BABB:
Muslims in the United States account for less-than two percent of the entire population. But as VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, Muslim-American influence in U.S. elections is on the rise, driven largely by concerns over the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
KANE FARABAUGH, VOA Correspondent:
In the Chicago, Illinois, suburb of Bridgeview, also known as “Little Palestine,” workers at Qahwah serve a seemingly endless supply of coffee products to the Palestinian Americans rotating through the shop.
Deanna Othman, Illinois Voter:
Anywhere you go in this area you see people who are visibly Muslim.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Deanna Othman teaches at the local Islamic school and frequents Qahwah. The most important issue to Othman this election year is ending the war between Israel and U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas.
The war started with the Hamas attack on Israel last year that killed 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, a number Israel says includes thousands of militants.
Deanna Othman, Illinois Voter:
To win my vote, I would have to see a commitment to ending the genocide immediately.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Many in “Little Palestine” share Othman’s concerns.
Cook County, Illinois - encompassing Chicago and Bridgeview - has the largest Palestinian community in the country. Illinois is home to about 475,000 Muslim Americans, about 3.7 percent of the total population.
Tabitha Bonilla, Associate Professor of Social Policy, Northwestern University:
They do make up a substantial minority in Illinois and they tend to vote Democrat.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Tabitha Bonilla is a professor of social policy at Northwestern University.
Tabitha Bonilla, Northwestern University:
It’s unlikely in Illinois that they would swing an election, but in a state like Michigan they are estimated to be about 200,000 Muslim American voters. And just for reference the gap between Republicans and Democrats in the last election was 150,000 people. If all 200,000 Muslim American voters decide not to vote or to not vote Democrat, that could really make a difference in a swing state like Michigan.
Layla Elabed, Palestinian American Community Activist:
These are folks in Michigan that know firsthand the impact of American funded bombs.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Layla Elabed is a community political organizer in Michigan, and sister of the state’s Palestinian American congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib.
Layla Elabed, Palestinian American Community Activist:
We want to change, shift course on the current policy and adopt a policy that will save Palestinian lives and end the occupation of Palestinians.
Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General:
The Muslim community not just in Michigan but in nearly every state is more active, more involved than ever before.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Keith Ellison is Minnesota’s current attorney general and was one of the first Muslim American members of the U.S. Congress.
Keith Ellison, Attorney General, Minnesota:
The Muslim American community has stronger political muscles than it has ever had before, and it’s making itself heard.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Deanna Othman says she wishes she had other options on the ballot.
Deanna Othman, Illinois Voter:
I feel like the majority of the people in this area don’t want to vote Democrat or Republican.
KANE FARABAUGH:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, estimates more than 2.2 million Muslim Americans are registered to vote in the United States this election year. It says that represents an increase of more than a million since the midterm election two years ago.
Kane Farabaugh, VOA News, Bridgeview, Illinois.
CARLA BABB:
The Hamas terror attack last October and the ongoing war that followed is the deadliest conflict in recent history for journalists and members of the media. So far, at least 116 journalists have died. Nearly all of them Palestinian. VOA spoke with reporters who cover the conflict as well as media analysts about the essential mission of journalists working freely on the ground. Our Press Freedom reporters Cristina Caicedo Smit and Liam Scott have the story. Smit narrates.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT, VOA Press Freedom Reporter:
The October 7 Hamas assault killed 1,200 in Israel. Terrorists kidnapped 251 people. The attack ignited a war that continues to this day.
Among the mounting number of civilian deaths are dozens of journalists.
Jodie Ginsberg, Committee to Protect Journalists:
More journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the war than have ever been killed in a single country over the course of an entire year.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the death toll as of October 9 is 113 Palestinians, two Israelis and three Lebanese journalists.
In addition, 35 are reported injured, two missing and 54 arrested.
John Daniszewski, Associated Press:
“here (are) also very great challenges in terms of access to the story for journalists.
And, the story is, in my experience, the most polarizing story we've ever had to deal with in my long career as a journalist.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
Tareq Hajjaj is a Gaza correspondent for Mondoweiss, an online publication covering the Palestinian territories, Israel and U.S. policy. He has lived his entire life in Gaza City.
Tareq Hajjaj, Mondoweiss:
And every time I was walking under those Israeli drones and warplanes, I was feeling that every second they may bomb me, circling me, because I know they target journalists, and I know they don't want anything from Gaza to get out to the people.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
Founded as a progressive news site, Mondoweiss has faced criticism for what some say are anti-Israel views.
The Israeli government has denied on multiple occasions that it targets journalists. But CPJ and others say the Israel Defense Forces should be accountable for the high media death toll.
Nearly all those who died are Palestinian.
Jodie Ginsberg, Committee to Protect Journalists:
They're also the only people able to report from Gaza because no foreign journalists have been allowed in. So, they bear the full weight of responsibility of reporting on the impact of the war on Gaza.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
Injury and death are not the only risks journalists face.
John Daniszewski, Associated Press:
Some of the dangers are not just physical dangers, but there's cyberstalking and harassment and intimidation of journalists.
CRISTINA CAICEDO SMIT:
The United Nations had condemned the attacks on journalists, indicating that there were “disturbing reports” of attacks against media workers despite being clearly identified.
In response to a U.N. report, the IDF said it “does not deliberately shoot at civilians, including journalists.
Hajjaj remembers every story he has covered since October 7.
Some, he says, were devastating to write. But he knows it’s his job to keep reporting on what is happening.
With Liam Scott, Cristina Caicedo Smit, VOA News.
CARLA BABB:
That’s all for now. Thanks for watching.
For the latest news you can log on to VOA news dot com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at VOA News.
To get more VOA content, follow me on X at CarlaBabbVOA. Catch up on past episodes at our free streaming service, VOA Plus.
I’m Carla Babb We will see you next week, for The Inside Story.
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