Trey Yingst takes cover from Hamas rocket attack
FOX News' Trey Yingst takes cover while providing the latest coverage from the war in Israel
FOX News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst was forced to take cover from a rocket while reporting live in the Israeli town of Sderot that sits near the Gaza border.
Yingst was reporting outside a police station that was reduced to rubble after a gun battle between Hamas militants and Israeli police officers. Yingst said the Israeli town was one of the first places that Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants entered on Saturday morning before murdering more than 800 people.
"More than 800 people killed, both soldiers and civilians, but the vast majority were families," Yingst said. "They were people who were at home with their kids, women and children. This was not a combatant on combatant situation. These militants did not come into southern Israel and simply fire on Israeli soldiers at the bases along the border. They came, and they slaughtered children."
Yingst and his team were able to capture Iron Dome interceptors as he instructed "everybody get down" and "just go flat."
"You're going to see some interceptions taking place," he warned. "There's mortar fire, rocket fire coming off the Gaza Strip right now. There are going to be some loud explosions. Don't be alarmed. Those are interceptions."
As explosions could be heard, Yingst explained that civilians within border communities are dealing with similar situations constantly.
"Everyone's just laying flat on the ground here, we've got to take cover," he said. "So again, we're just going to stay down here for a moment, but this is what communities along the border are dealing with. It is constant, constant fire."
Yingst said that short range rockers or mortars – he wasn't sure which – were being intercepted, but explained that that isn't always the case.
"Hamas and Islamic Jihad will fire rockets in a way that they try to overwhelm Israel's missile defense system, the Iron Dome, and when they do that, it leads to casualties, and it leads to the rockets slipping past missile defense and slamming into buildings." he said.
"Just a sense of the constant back and forth," he added. "The Israeli airstrikes continue at this hour, as do the rockets from the Gaza Strip."
A ground assault by Israeli defense forces into Gaza appears to be imminent and forces hope to rescue the 100 estimated hostages, which could include Americans. Israel has also ordered a complete siege of Gaza, cutting off food and electricity, but the rocket barrage continues.
"The streets of this town are filled with blood," Yingst said of the scene in Sderot, "We were here yesterday before those Hamas militants reentered and you saw bus stops that were literally soaked in blood. Cars with their blinkers still flashing, bullet holes in the windshield."
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"People were not expecting this," he added. "They were going to see friends and family going to picnics, waiting to go home. It is just simply tragic what's taking place here. We have covered a lot of very difficult stories around the world and it is very rare to see this level of brutality and slaughter in one day against a civilian population."
Yingst described the past few days as "pure terror for this population" and "part of the reason that you are going to see such a heavy response in the coming days."
"Already at this hour, that response continues from the air," he said. "More than a thousand Israeli air strikes, now artillery is involved. We have heard naval shelling. Israel is preparing for weeks of war against the factions inside Gaza."
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