A producer for Fox News who has been reporting on foreign wars and conflicts overseas for years is describing the scene in Israel in recent days as the worst she’s seen.
Warning that the details of the terrorist acts carried out in the country by Hamas are “too horrible to describe and share here,” Yonat Friling wrote in an online op-ed for Fox News, “I have seen the most awful things that can be done to people of all ages—babies, older women, young teens — scenes that I will never forget.”
“I have covered many wars and conflicts here in Israel, but this is the hardest one I have encountered so far; I am at a loss for words to describe what I feel, and frankly, I haven’t had the time to do so,” she wrote.
As news of Hamas’s attack on Israel broke earlier this month, each of the major news networks deployed dozens of reporters, producers and staff to the region as fighting is expected to continue for weeks or months.
Many of the journalists reporting from Israel have described harrowing scenes of bloodshed and loss, some moved to tears while reporting live on air as they described the brutality of the conflict, which has left more than 3,200 Israelis and Palestinians dead.
“It takes a huge toll, professionally, mentally, and physically on our lives. It impacts our close circles at home, work, and friends,” Friling wrote of her experience covering an active war zone. “We need to talk about it, share, and stop fighting the shame and vulnerability surrounding this issue. We should be compassionate and kinder with ourselves, just as we are with the people we meet in the field.”
The fighting in the region has once again called to mind the physical risks of reporting on war.
At least 15 journalists have been killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas as of Tuesday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, including 11 Palestinians and three Israelis. Among that number is also a video journalist working for Reuters, who was killed during Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon late last week.
Last year, prominent Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. Fox cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski was killed while covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine that spring, a strike that also severely injured reporter Benjamin Hall.