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A view from the ground: Yesterday's intense strikes in Gaza

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

Yesterday marked one year since the war between Israel and Hamas began. It was also a day that saw some of the most intense strikes in Gaza in the past year.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Israeli military says it was targeting Hamas infrastructure. The strikes killed dozens of Palestinians according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.

DETROW: Anas Baba, NPR's producer on the ground in Gaza, sent us these recordings of what he saw in an area in central Gaza called al-Bureij camp, which was hit hard overnight. The scenes he recorded show an intense - and as a warning - at times graphic glimpse at one day of violence in one location amid more than a year now of strikes and counterstrikes.

ANAS BABA, BYLINE: Al-Bureij refugee camps in the middle areas of Gaza Strip are witnessing one of the most intense airstrikes and even the artilleries from the Israeli tanks.

(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSION BOOMING)

BABA: Every five to 10 to 25 minutes, you can hear the quadcopters start to open fire, artillery shoals, airstrikes. You didn't know where exactly that this is happening. Yesterday at the night, one of the quadcopters just, like, dropped a fire bomb on the tent encampments.

(CROSSTALK)

DETROW: In this video, men scale a ladder and climb into a half-downed building in search of survivors. They look through piles of concrete and twisted metal.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Crying).

(CROSSTALK)

SHAPIRO: A woman clutches her leg.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Crying).

(CROSSTALK)

SHAPIRO: Paramedics load her into an ambulance.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Arabic).

(SOUNDBITE OF SIREN WAILING)

DETROW: A man covered in soot and dust pleads for an ambulance to stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Arabic).

DETROW: He's holding the body of a girl who's been pulled from the rubble. She's mostly limp but still moving as paramedics examine her in the man's arms.

(CROSSTALK)

SHAPIRO: Anas told us that what he encountered yesterday takes him back to one year ago, when war began with a Hamas attack on Israel.

BABA: This is truly a war zone and a barrage. Everything is shot - supermarkets, pharmacies, laundries, bakeries. There's no life. It's truly becoming to be the 7 October war again. For NPR News, this is Anas Baba reporting from al-Bureij city. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Anas Baba
[Copyright 2024 NPR]