NBC’s Richard Engel Reports Rockets Are Coming ‘Quite Close’ as He Takes Cover During Harrowing Live Shot
NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel was forced to take cover during incoming rocket and mortar fire as he reported live from Israel about the latest developments since the Hamas terrorist attack over the weekend.
Hundreds of Israelis have been reported dead, and many more injured or missing, including many who have been reportedly taken hostage into Gaza, after a devastating attack by Hamas over the weekend. Monday morning, the U.S. State Department confirmed that nine Americans were among the dead.
Engel was in Sderot, at the Gaza border, and told the Morning Joe audience there was “a lot of fire here,” explaining why he was crouched down by a wall.
“We believe it’s mortar fire,” he continued. “Some of them from rockets, they’ve been coming in quite close. That is why we’re on the ground right now. This is still considered a very active combat zone even though we’re inside Israeli territory, and it’s not just the incoming rockets and mortars, there are also reports from Israeli officials of new infiltrations of Hamas sending more fighters through breaches in the border fence.”
A senior Israeli official had told NBC News that there had been “about 30” breaches in the border perimeter, “around 90%” of which had been fixed, “but 10% remain, they’re trying to secure those,” and “so this is still an active situation here.”
The Israelis were working on moving civilians away from the border towns and searching for Hamas fighters, Engel said, because they believed sleeper cells and other fighters had “infiltrated” the area and were “potentially, hiding in some of the buildings.”
The “barrage” of fire like their reporting team just experienced seemed to have passed, he noted. “They come in waves, but this one was right — practically right on top of us.”
“Richard, if any moment you or your crew need to move to get to safety, please do so,” said guest anchor Katty Kay. “If you can speak to us, and continue to speak to us, just to be clear, the mortar fire that you’re hearing is not just then Israelis attacking Gaza. There are still rockets coming out of Gaza into Israel, is that right?”
“Oh, 100%, there are rockets coming out of Gaza, and mortars. We very close to the Gaza strip,” Engel confirmed, adding that even with Israel’s “sophisticated” air defense and warning systems, there was usually only a warning time of “about 20 seconds,” but “sometimes, with the smaller munitions like the mortars, you don’t get a warning.”
“We didn’t hear a warning for very long before this latest barrage happened,” he continued. “So, to answer your question, yes, there are still rockets and mortars coming out of Gaza. The Israelis are bombing inside Gaza. We’ve seen and heard Israeli jets and drones flying overhead. And the infiltrations are still under way.”
Kay asked Engel about the reports that 300,000 Israeli reservists were being called up, and if he had seen any signs that they were “planning to mount any kind of land invasion into Gaza?”
Engel replied that it was “difficult to know what they are preparing to do, but we have seen a buildup of forces here. We’ve seen tanks. We’ve seen armored personnel carriers. We’ve seen medical vehicles. We’ve seen a whole host of different armored vehicles moving into this area with a full complement of soldiers. It’s hard to know if they’re preparing for some sort of assault. I don’t think the number of troops that we’ve seen indicates that they’re getting ready for any land incursion. And the land incursion at this stage would be enormously difficult because there are still so many Israeli hostages inside.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
