But the tension itself was palpable, he said.
Correspondents for ABC News and NBC News were not available.
(Yingst answered questions via email).
Israeli soldiers guard outside Kibbutz Kfar Aza near the border with GazaAlexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Bear in mind this really was the very early hours of what was happening.
And almost immediately I called my desk and said, We need to go.
We booked our flight, and I got to the airport and it was canceled.
And I went to the information desk and they just said, Nobodys flying to Tel Aviv.
So we had to race across London to this other airport to get on that flight into Israel.
NIC ROBERTSON:I was woken up in my bed byCNNat 14 minutes past six Saturday morning.
It was my daughters birthday over the weekend, so we had family plans.
And then the pilot kept everyone informed in the air.
Then we were on the ground, and it wasnt long before events were happening around us.
Our landing was delayed [and] we were forced to circle for quite some time above the airport.
And when we later landed, we realized that Hamas had been launching airstrikes at the airport.
The streets will become lively, people will go back to cafes, people will go back to work.
And yet arriving in Israel and driving from the airport to Tel Aviv, it was so quiet.
There was almost nobody on the streets.
It was eerie, so eerie it almost felt calm.
But the tension itself was palpable, given what we knew.
And remember, at that point, this assault by these Hamas fighters was still ongoing.
There were large numbers of Hamas fighters who were rampaging around southern Israel in several communities.
And nobody knew if they werent making their way to Tel Aviv or to other parts of Israel.
And so, it really just underscored the fear in that moment.
ROBERTSON:The sirens went off [at the airport].
And so you know, whenever the sirens go off, everyone has to get shelter.
And thats what everyone did.
For me, thats the moment that your professional skills kick in.
Its, Get filming and record this.
This is what youre here to do and again, bear witness.
So you just kick into professional gear.
When we got on the plane, we knew what we were coming to.
Everyone had their camera out and they were filming.
NAWAZ:This is different than conflicts in the past.
ROBERTSON:Going into it, we didnt know what we would expect to see.
The people in the kibbutz who had been killed, they were either under like sleeping bags.
So it was a couple of people with like sleeping bags over them outside.
And other people in body bags.
Reporting on the Brutality
YINGST:The footage is gruesome but shows the reality of war.
Ive seen many difficult and challenging things so far.
We arrived in the south as Palestinian militants were still killing and kidnapping Israelis.
We also watched as bodies were stacked into a pick-up truck after being pulled from the Sderot police station.
He warned viewers about the images, describing the location as the most horrific thing I have ever seen.
Robertson, too, reported on the massacre at the kibbutz at Kfar Aza.
A day earlier, Robertson had reported from the scene of a music festival where 260 bodies were found.
Youre telling the audience what youre seeing.
All of that, and you understand what youre witnessing.
They want to know it as you know, it.
They deserve to know it as you know it.
But thats the way that it is.
I think the emotions are in there, and they come out later in a different way.
NAWAZ:War is war.
So Ive always tried in these situations to do two things.
What have I seen with my own eyes?
really helps to guide the reporting.
But we also cant lose our empathy as human beings in these moments.
Death tolls can often become very sort of antiseptic, especially the higher they go.
Its hard to get a grasp of whats really unfolding on the ground.
And I asked him, Did you blame anyone?
Were you angry at anyone?
And he choked back tears and said, I blame the military, and I blame the government.
And in Israel, its not often you hear Israelis show any kind of anger at the military.
It is proven to be one of the most powerful and effective modern militaries on Earth.
NAWAZ:We are not the only source of information on these kinds of issues.
But these attacks were so horrendous and so atrocious.
And its times like this that we know our goal is to add light and not heat.
We want to always put the facts first in what we do.
We want to always go to firsthand sources on everything we do.
We want to always approach with the appropriate amount of skepticism and everything we do.
But this nation has been through so much in the last few days.
So youll find scenarios like that.
This is CNN, were doing live TV.
And they were good and they were happy with it.
This area thats close to Gaza, where we are now, the stores are shut.
So you kind of got to plan ahead around that.
TYAB:No, you know, its a relatively small country.
But in terms of logistics traveling around Israel itself, its reasonably fine.
So well be traveling there to tell that side of the story.
ROBERTSON:Safety always comes first.
So you know, wherever we stop around here, we always are aware of what shelter is available.
The judgment is always dependent on where you are and on whats happening.
[You ask] Have you been there before?
Have you experienced this there before?
Whats it gonna be like?
Theres always a judgment.
It is always going on in your mind about, Should we take cover now?
Can we come out now?
What can we do?
How much danger are we in, etc.
Its a constant calculation.
YINGST:Gaza is impossible to reach right now.
Logistics are easier than in other conflict zones Ive reported from.
TYAB:Weve been trying to contact people inside Gaza.
Because Ive worked here, Ive spent a lot of time in Gaza.
I called my former producer just to check in on him.
How are you doing?
Hes a great guy.
Hes a good friend.
He said he was afraid.
And so I started calling him and calling him, and there was no answerr.
And I finally about half hour later managed to get a hold of him.
He said, There was a strike.
And I was like, Are you OK?
And he was, and hes with his family.
Now theyre sheltering in their apartments.
But as he keeps saying to me, he doesnt know whats going to happen.
NAWAZ:Reporting from Gaza has always been an issue.
But thats getting harder.
It is a challenge.
Im not going to underestimate that.
Remember, Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid.
Israel has rock solid support from the U.S.
These are incredibly close allies.
It is so interconnected with American communities inside the U.S. and of course here in Israel.
That is at the core of fair, accurate, empatheti, reporting from this region.
