‘The Balcony I’m Standing On Is Shaking’: Nic Robertson’s Report For CNN Interrupted By Intense Bombing at Gaza Border

CNN’s Nic Robertson was in the middle of a report from Sderot, Israel, Friday, when the intense bombing behind him could no longer be ignored.

Robertson was wrapping up a story on Israeli hostage Yehudit Weiss, whose body was found in a building near Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, when the explosions took over.

“So this is intensifying,” he told Jake Tapper. “Looks like a flare is headed up in the sky. But I’m seeing fire raining down from what I can’t see, but imagine, that is possibly a helicopter,” Robertson said. “We’ve seen Apache helicopters — ” before the sounds of artillery caused him to pause.

“Apache helicopters working in this area of Gaza this evening. We’re seeing multiple flashes over there, in the northwestern side of Gaza. This to me is hard to understand because I was in the area close to there and it already looked, just two days ago, three days ago, incredibly bombed out. Deserted. No civilians. It created the impression, there was no military fighting force, Hamas no longer there.” He continued:

These are some of the biggest flashes I think I’ve seen here, from explosions. Three weeks into the ground incursion, the northern tip of Gaza is still being cleared of Hamas. The level of fire that’s coming in here tonight quite intense, perhaps some of the most intense we’ve seen in several days. The sky here being absolutely illuminated by these multiple flashes. You see the flares coming down, but the horizon is just being brightly lit by these red and yellow explosions, the detonations, a loud shaking where we are. Just look at them across a long length of the horizon there!

“So, this seems potentially indicative here of the IDF trying to gain a firmer and stronger control of another part, more neighborhoods, in the northern end of Gaza,” Robertson continued. “But the horizon that is being illuminated, several miles of active battlefront, Jake.  Just look at these live pictures. Never seen anything like this in the last few days.”

Tapper asked if Robertson knew which part of Gaza was being targeted.

“So, our estimation — the balcony I’m standing on is shaking right now — our estimation is, it is these towns and villages in the northern area of Gaza,” Robertson said.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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