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Amanpour
Interview with Mother of Hostage Romi Gonen Meirav Leshem Gonen; Interview with A Land for All Israeli Executive Director May Pundak; Interview with Combatants for Peace Co-Director Rana Salman; Interview with Al Jazeera English Correspondent Youmna ElSayed. Aired 1-2p ET
Aired October 07, 2024 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:00:00]
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to "Amanpour." Here's what's coming up.
The unbearable sorrow of being. One year since Hamas invaded Israel, killing and kidnapping. Meirav Leshem Gonen tells me about the never-ending
nightmare of trying to bring home her 24-year-old daughter, Romi.
Then --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAY PUNDAK, ISRAELI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, A LAND FOR ALL: We are very deeply in trauma, still.
RANA SALMAN, CO-DIRECTOR, COMBATANTS FOR PEACE: Today, we are actually united in grief, but we are also united in hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: -- Israeli and Palestinian human rights activists come together on their battered but unbowed dream for peace.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOUMNA ELSAYED, AL JAZEERA ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT: Life, after coming out of Gaza, hasn't been easy at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: -- 12 months of trauma, Al Jazeera English correspondent Youmna ElSayed shares the pain of war and fleeing Gaza with Hari Sreenivasan.
Welcome to the program, everyone. I'm Christiane Amanpour in London.
One year ago, today at 6:29 a.m., Hamas invaded Israel and committed the most heinous of crimes, murdering more than a thousand people, mostly
civilians, taking 250 hostages, scores of whom are still captive today.
Across the country today, ceremonies began at that precise time to remember what has happened to them all and to their nation. There were also
protests, even on this day, at the government's failure to uphold a unique contract with its people, to never leave anyone behind, to bring home every
last hostage, no matter the cost.
Some hostage families held their own event that criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu, while the government created its own pre-recorded tribute.
The past year since Hamas invaded has been a catastrophic trauma for Israel and for Jews all over the world. The ensuing war has been a catastrophe for
Palestinians and the wider regional war that was so feared back then is now underway with no end in sight.
Tonight, we will hear again from four women who all spoke to us about a year ago, who each has suffered grievously, who nonetheless holds hope in
their hearts.
But first, we go back to October 7th, and we listen again to Sahar Ben- Sela. He described for us that terrible day. He's a young man who went to the Nova Music Festival to have fun, never imagining what would happen
instead. He joined us back then from lifesaving treatment in hospital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAHAR BEN-SELA, SURVIVOR OF MUSIC FESTIVAL MASSACRE: And one of the producers of the festival just jump on the fence and scream that the
terrorists are coming in legs and legs. Just they come in on land and not there for missile. And then, the panic began. It was a big panic. Everybody
was jumping on the fence. Everybody ran to their cars.
A lot of fire out there. Just even in the biggest, worst thing that we've seen in movies, I can't explain how much -- how many bullets and missiles
were flying around us.
I could never forget the face of it. It was smiling at us. It looks like the devil. It just looked at us, point the gun, the Carlo machine gun in
front of the girl's face and just tried to spread everything around, all the people. I was in the second row. All the people in the first row and
the second row shot dead.
I just opened my eyes and opened my mouth and start to go down the wall because I got -- I understood that I got hit but didn't understand where
yet because it was blood all over and screaming.
I saw the kids that -- their bodies full of bullets. A girl that -- all her body parts on the floor and she was crawling to her boyfriend and dead
boyfriend and start to kiss him until she got -- she died by herself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: The sheer terror. We spoke also to a young woman, Nili Margalit, who told us how Hamas terrorists broke down her door that morning and took
her away at gunpoint, still in her pajamas. Later, she found out that her father had been murdered.
[13:05:00]
Margalit talked to us because she's one of the hostages who was freed last November in the only negotiated release so far. She told me about her
harrowing 55 days in captivity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NILI MARGALIT, FORMER HOSTAGE: We were in a tunnel which was about 40 meters underground. So, oxygen was very lethal. We were -- it was -- we
felt like we are suffocating all the time. It was really hard to breathe. And also, because there was a lot of elderly people with me, then it's --
had other effects, you know, it was hard for them to breathe. Someone had asthma, which make it harder to breathe. The smell is terrible. People were
wounded when they were taken, when they were abducted from their home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Now, 23-year-old Romi Gonen has been held hostage for 365 days and counting. Because she also was taken that horrific day from the Nova
Music Festival. She spent her 24th birthday this summer in captivity. And every single day, her mother, Meirav, has been fighting tirelessly to bring
her home.
We spoke for the first time in late October last year. Meirav is joining us again. So, welcome is not the right word, but thank you for being with us
today again. And I want to Ask you how you are.
MEIRAV LESHEM GONEN, MOTHER OF HOSTAGE ROMI GONEN: Wow. It's a big question. First, thank you for hosting me today. This is such an important
issue to talk today and remind everybody that there are still people kept alive. And some of them are already murdered in Hamas hands for a year.
This is, you know, agonizing.
This is -- I cannot even explain how it is -- how you feel when you wake up in the morning and for the first moments you hope this is only a nightmare,
a dream, a bad dream. But then, you are waking up to a reality.
Out of my five kids, I have one kid, which I didn't hear her voice for a year. I don't know how she looks like today, how she's holding up. Did she
lost her hand? Because she was shot on that day. Is she smiling? Like she's always smile. And this is so agonizing. It's so difficult.
AMANPOUR: Meirav, you've just explained to us how she was not just kidnapped but shot that day. And you actually did manage to get a call into
her or somehow you guys connected as this terrible thing was happening. And we have got your permission to play a little bit of that, and it's pretty
traumatic. And we're going to play a little bit of your conversation the last time you spoke to your daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GONEN (through translator): My Romi. You are not along. You are with me, my beautiful. My Romi? Everything is OK. I am with you. Everything's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: So, that was your side of the conversation, Meirav. I see your eyes are closed. Was she able to say anything to you?
GONEN: It's living -- she spoke at first. She was calling me at 10:14 that morning. We were on the phone for almost four and a half hours. But the
last call started at 10:14 when she was calling me and saying that she was shot. That her friend, her best friend was murdered. The driver was
murdered and that another boy in the car is also shot. She was bleeding. She was sure she's going to die.
And you can hear the shooting around the car. This is my 20 -- she was 23. Now, she's already 24. She's my kid. She's my baby with a lot of Hamas
terrorists around her shouting. 45 minutes, which, at first, she was speaking. She was telling me what is going around.
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And then, at a certain minute she was hushing me and I just listened and I listened to the shooting around her, to the terrorist shouting and taking
her, dragging her out of the car. She's just a girl. She just wanted to -- you know, to be in the festival.
And I think we have to remember that this is not an issue between Palestine and Israel, this is an issue between the Hamas, which is terror
organization, which terrorize also the Gaza people. This is something which threatened the whole world, not just in Israel. It started in Israel. It
happened in Israel and we're fighting back. But this is something the whole world should take responsibility as the world does. Maybe this is the place
to say thank you. Thank you for understanding that this is not just Israel fight and you see what is going around us.
I live in the north. Just today, on the 7th of October, the houses around my house were shot by missiles from Hezbollah. So, you can understand this
is -- we are a small country with so many terror organizations around us that wants to eliminate us. And thank you for being there for us. And I
think this is exactly what will help us win, because we need to push the Hamas very strongly. Us, the free countries, the democracies, we have to
fight the Hamas and push him and let him know that we will not break because we are the good and the Hamas is evil. Evil also to the Gaza
people.
AMANPOUR: Meirav, can I ask you, because you just brought it up? You know, obviously, there is a big war going on, on all fronts around your country.
Do you support the war against Hezbollah and do you think that it will make you safer, that you will be able to go back to your home in the north?
GONEN: Nobody wants war. Nobody. I think people doesn't know that the north was bombed for this year, every -- almost every day -- not almost,
every day, the Hezbollah was shooting at places like Kiryat Shmona, like Metula, almost no houses are standing in Metula. And the world doesn't know
that.
There is a certain point when, you know, you cannot just stand and see what is going on and let the Hezbollah do what it wants. At a certain point, you
have to say, that's enough, now we're stopping it. I'm not pro-war, I'm pro-peace. But this is not what the Hezbollah seeks. This is not what the
Hamas seeks. They are seeking to eliminate us, the Israeli people. They are seeking to eliminate the free world, and we should not let them have that.
I assume that all of this will be finished in an agreement, but an agreement which we, the strong world, will also have a say in that. And
this is something we have to have your help, I think, and I think the U.S. understand that also, and I thank them for holding the democracy in the
west -- here, in the Middle West, in the -- sorry, in the Middle East.
AMANPOUR: I understand. I understand. Meirav, can I ask you again about your daughter, because you know that some hostages have come home, were
released in negotiations at the end of November. Some have been rescued, and some have been killed. Has anybody been able to tell you anything about
your daughter? Did any of the returned hostages see her? Did you hear anything?
GONEN: Yes. First, I have to just say that there some hostages that were killed, but most of them were murdered by the Hamas. 27 hostages. And most
of them was -- were murdered by the Hamas. The six, the young people just one month ago. And yes, and they -- in the previous releases, some of the
women that returned they were with Romi, my Romi, and they came back with stories, funny stories and some disturbing also stories.
[13:15:00]
She's holding up. She was saying she's holding up for me. And I want her to see me and I want her to see that I'm strong. I'm strong for her. I'm
strong for her brothers and sisters. I'm strong also for you, for the American citizens that you will know that we are strong because we are
fighting for justice.
And they also said that she lost -- the color in her fingers was changing, that her hand is not functioning. And I thought -- that time I thought,
wow, she's going to lose her hand. We have to bring her back. But today, I'm saying it doesn't matter if she lost her hand, we just have to bring
her back alive. Because as we know, and as Nili said, Nili Margalit, the conditions in the tunnels are impossible. They are barely surviving and we
have to bring them back alive.
AMANPOUR: What more do you want your government to do to bring them back?
GONEN: I think the most important thing for my government and for all the coalition governments first to understand that we are fighting the evil.
And second, we have to take the measures. It might be difficult. It might be not easy. It's hard decisions for leaders to take. But I think, as the
Israeli people, as the Jewish people and the people that works with us, the people that understands democracy and free world, this is -- that we have
to be strong together. And the leaders need to be strong as the people of Israel.
And I think this is -- we give a very good example to our leaders how we should act. And most of the people in Israel understands that we don't want
Hamas to continue ruling in Gaza. And yet, we need to make sure that we are bringing the hostages now and this will take difficult measures, but
together, we will succeed.
AMANPOUR: And very briefly, if you can, I mean, what went through your heart when you celebrated -- well, when you marked her birthday on -- in
August and she was still in captivity?
GONEN: It was so difficult. At first, we wanted to hide the fact that she has birthday. But at a certain point, we thought that maybe she will see
us, she will see the whole country covered with the leopard, like, like my pin. Because Romi likes leopard.
And we decided to make this day a day that brings light to other people, to bring strength to other people. And I think we succeeded. More than 100,000
people saw the live video of the ceremony we did near the sea, in Pearl Center for Peace. And I think it strengthened not just us, but also a lot
of people that was sharing with us this birthday. So, also thank you for that.
AMANPOUR: Meirav, you're keeping her alive. Thank you so much for being with us. Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mom of Romi Gonen.
GONEN: Thank you.
AMANPOUR: Throughout this horrific year, there've also been some stories of some hope, like the work of two women, May Pundak and Rana Salman. May
is an Israeli human rights lawyer and co-executive director of A Land for All, a movement that dreams of a confederacy, like kind of solution that
she calls two-state solution 2.0. Her father was one of the architects of the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993. Rana is a Palestinian activist and co-
director of Combatants for Peace. That's an organization working with former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters, now searching for
nonviolent solutions.
I first spoke to them back in December. And since then, they've worked together in bridging the device. They join me and they join the program
again today to reflect on this painful past year.
May and Rana, welcome back to the program. On this terrible day, we spoke to you about 10 months ago. May, first to you, being in Israel. What are
you feeling today? And do you -- did you think that you would be in this situation a full year later?
MAY PUNDAK, ISRAELI EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, A LAND FOR ALL: Thanks, Christiane for the question and for having us. Honestly, Rana and I were talking on
the phone just before joining you today, and we were shocked by the fact that we are still here in the war. I don't think that anyone believed it
will be so long and so hideous.
[13:20:00]
And I am so scared to say that we don't even know when it's going to end. So, to be honest, these are very, very dark days in Israel and Palestine,
and I think that no one has expected it to be so, so grim, which is exactly why we feel so empowered to be doing this work now more than ever.
AMANPOUR: Well, I'm going to get to that in a moment because it takes great strength to be able to continue that kind of work under these kinds
of circumstances.
Rana, I want to ask you how you are feeling, how your Palestinian family is feeling, and what it's like on the West Bank, which is in this intervening
year, become a ground zero as well?
RANA SALMAN, CO-DIRECTOR, COMBATANTS FOR PEACE: Yes. Thank you, Christiane, for having us. We actually woke up today with the same sense of
feeling that something terrible might happen, which is like what we feel every day, because unexpected events are happening daily, violent images,
the devastation, more violence, more destruction, more loss of life.
Today, we are actually united in grief, but we are also united in hope, and we use this time not only for reflection, but for action. And as May said,
we have a lot of work to do, because we don't see that the Ceasefire is coming soon, and we're meeting here again after one year of this terrible
war to say the exactly same thing, that there is no military solution for our conflict.
AMANPOUR: I'm really fascinated that you did not know each other before you were interviewed this time last year by The New York Times and by us.
And you just said that you were talking on the phone ahead of -- or somehow talking ahead of this conversation. What were you saying, both of you, and
what has been your experience out of the ashes of what happened a year ago that you've been able to connect and try to take your work forward?
PUNDAK: Yes, I would say that the ashes are ongoing, right? I mean, today we mark the 7th of October and a year to this atrocious war that is still
killing people every day. And I think that it's important to mention that the war is ongoing in Gaza, in Israel, in Palestine, in the West Bank, for
Palestinian citizens of Israel, now in Lebanon. And it's because -- we're on the verge of a regional war.
And so, I think that it's so important to also be clear that we are not ending anything. We are really in the midst of the tragedy itself. The
situation in Israel is also looking extremely dark. So, I want to start with that. I'll just say about how wonderful it's been to be working and
talking to Rana.
We've been talking a lot about how, you know, October 7th has been also an opportunity and a mark for the peace camp to -- in Israel and Palestine to
awaken, but it not -- it hasn't only awakened, it has also chose a new direction. And that new direction is truly based on moving away from the
paradigm of segregation and zero-sum game into the understanding of interdependency and future interest, shared interest, shared future and
partnership.
And Rana and I, I think, are one example and our relationship is one example, and our works, of our organizations, is a good example of this new
direction that peace and hope and vision needs to go forward towards. And I think that that has really brought us even closer together this year.
AMANPOUR: May, before I turn to Rana, do you feel like an outlier a little or are there many Israelis who feel that way? Because obviously, so many --
still, as you say, it's ongoing, the trauma hasn't ended. It's still very, very terrible and shocking for so many of your compatriots. Do you feel
that there is a space, a meaningful space for your kind of work?
Because, obviously, the polls show that most people support the ongoing war and see that as a way to end this threat.
PUNDAK: Yes, I would say that as per usual, things, you know, are not either or. And on once -- on one hand, I -- it's clear that the Israeli
people, and I talk on behalf of the Israeli Jews today, or not on behalf, but about us, we are very, very deeply in trauma, still. We are entrenched
in our trauma and on our fear and in our horror. And that is real. And I think that is also what is allowing this awful government we have to stay
in power. That is a manipulation of this fear and trauma.
And at the same time, I think it's getting more and more clear that October 7th is a day of huge tragedy in a year of violence, but it's also the day
where people realize that normalization and shrinking the conflict and the fake status quo has failed us as Israelis in ensuring our safety and
security.
[13:25:00]
And so, in that day, I think that Israelis today are moving at the same time with their fear and trauma and feeling that they have to live on the
sword to realize that no violence and no military solution will ever end and -- or ensure our safety. And that is something that is starting to
penetrate into the collective psyche, that this government has failed us, that we cannot trust it, and that in order to change it, in order to see a
better future, in order not to go to funerals day after day, and not choose violence as the ultimate and only solution, we have to offer an
alternative. We have to offer life. We have to celebrate birthdays.
We have to offer a political vision that will allow us to move away from the fake status quo and not doing anything and thinking that we can
forever, you know, live as usual here while occupation and apartheid continue and actually move towards the only viable future, which is brave
peace. And the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the only way.
And so, I think that these two things are happening at the same time. And that we are really pushing to integrate and to push these ideas from
within. And I can tell you, Christiane, that A Land for All, and I know that Combatants for Peace as well, we have been growing significantly at
the same time as this terror is really haunting all of us.
AMANPOUR: Rana, it would be great if that was the case. If that is the case, it is great. Is it really growing on the occupied West Bank? I mean,
let's just take that because that's where you are compared to Gaza. Is there really a constituency for a two-state solution and to work with
Israelis, like-minded Israelis?
SALMAN: I would say actually yes, because I know there has been several polls since the beginning of the war, but has -- there has been also new
statistics and new proof that more people are into favor to the two-state solution or towards peace negotiations and to a nonviolent political
settlement.
And I would say from our own work, because that's the living proof that I encounter every day, and the more interest of young activists joining our
programs, our activities, our nonviolent protest, whether in Tel Aviv or in the West Bank, that's actually very inspiring and very empowering to us to
see those young generations raising out their voices to demand a ceasefire, to end this war and to push towards a political solution that both nations
are in desperate need to.
AMANPOUR: Oh, Rana, you know, May just spoke about her feelings about the Israeli government, and I just want to ask whether you feel you have a
competent leadership that actually believes in the same things that, that you're saying right now.
The polls, as you know, consider your leadership really, really, really bad. And even the latest surveys show that on the occupied West Bank the --
whatever you want to call it, the approval support for Hamas is growing, along with what you say, the idea of a solution, a two-state solution. But
do you see any leadership right now or the possibility of creating a new leadership from, you know, people like yourself and your generation?
SALMAN: I think we have seen, since the beginning of the war, the poor performance of our leadership in Palestine and in Israel, they are leading
us to more death and destruction. But I don't want to deny the power dynamics between the two powers, because Israel is definitely the occupying
power and it has more power to stop this this war eventually, and especially with the interference of the U.S. since it's the strongest alley
to Israel. So, I know it's possible.
And for the Palestinian government, I know the performance hasn't been as expected and -- or as the level that it should be. But I also agree that we
need a new leadership. There is a new generation of skilled, qualified, very motivated young leaders that need to have a chance to be in these
leadership positions, to take control, to lead us to -- in a different era.
AMANPOUR: So, let me just quote some things and I -- because the key, I guess, for both of you is -- and both your organizations, is to try to grow
that new leadership and bring people into the process. So, I just want to read you these rather startling statistics. So, this is the recent
Scheindlin poll from Israel and the Shikaki poll from the Palestinian territories.
So, 80 percent of Palestinians believe that their recent years of suffering in Gaza justified October 7th. 84 percent of Israeli Jews believe that
October 7th justifies the war. I sort of alluded to that. 89 percent of Palestinians believe the land very much belongs to them. 92 percent of
Israeli Jews say the land very much belongs to them.
[13:30:00]
So, Mai, we know that your father was one of the great negotiators, the only peace process that had a fighting chance before it was killed off, the
Oslo Process. Those kinds of figures look like they're hard to bridge. And especially in this really dark time when nobody or not enough people can
see a way out.
PUNDAK: Yes. I agree. And I -- it's important also to say apropos, and Rana was saying about the power dynamic that neither Rana and I are here to
sell, you know, a false kind of romanticism that everything will be fine if we just work together and that we -- actually, you know, there's tons of
hope. No, Israel and Palestine are broken, the societies are broken and I feel really that the -- there's such despair and it's growing every, every,
every day.
And the only way to fight that despair is to create alternatives. And I'll turn it a vision political imagination, and that has to be based on
equality, that has to be based on values, but it has to be based on pragmatism. We don't do it because we love peace and love, we do it because
we're fighting for our future here, for ourselves, each of us, and we understand that the only way to achieve that is together.
And so, these statistics, I have to say, that everyone is in such trauma that I wouldn't count on these numbers to say anything. You know, 30 days
before the Berlin Wall fell, no one believed it will ever fall. And so, I really think that we should take these numbers and think about them
carefully.
And the other thing that we need to do is really create an alternative narrative. One that doesn't lead everyone to more despair and more violence
and feeling that there's a zero-sum game that we have to win. In a way, both Rana and I, I want to say, are offering that alternative. And one of
that -- those factors is that there is one homeland.
You know, in Israel, Palestine, between the river and the sea, there are 7 million Palestinians and 7 million Israeli Jews, we're stuck together and
no one's going anywhere. And now, it feels that we either -- and have a bloody future or we choose to live together and find a way to do that that
is respectful and separate but also understanding that that's the only way out.
And so, creating that alternative narrative, to push these percentage and polls back, that's what we're here to do.
AMANPOUR: And, Rana, you too. I mean, the way Hamas is being viewed in Gaza is less positive than actually on the West Bank. So, how do you see
being able to include Gaza? Because there's no politicians, including your own really, have put any plan forward for if there was ever to be a day
after. And currently, the West Bank is under huge military threat and action.
SALMAN: It is, indeed. Actually, I was just telling that my morning I was stopped by a checkpoint by soldiers, and I was -- my photo was taken
because there is this sense of fear and insecurity that we have been feeling, not only throughout the last year, but for the last 75 plus years
of occupation. And I think that's why we need to tackle on the root causes of this conflict, to call for an end to occupation.
Because Palestinians are struggling to get to their freedom and to live in peace and security and dignity and justice with equal rights. And I think
this is possible for all people who live between the river and the sea. This is like their basic rights. And for Israelis as well, to feel secure,
this is what has to happen, like for both the nations so that we can live on this land that we both call our homeland in peace and in dignity.
AMANPOUR: I just want to ask you both what it was like to actually meet after knowing of each other and having been interviewed, you know, on
different sides of the divide and how that meeting has changed maybe or shaped your commitment to peace and to the activism. Mai, you first.
PUNDAK: Yes. Well, you know, this whole -- the work that we do is so personal and political, and it's all kind of tied in together. And I think
that we do it because of -- you know, to take care of our families and to take care of our people and our children and to ensure them a better life.
And within that personal work, you know, the relationships and building these partnership and bridges is really what we're committed to doing.
So, for me, meeting Rana was nearly -- Rana, I wonder what you would say, like to -- like it's so natural. You know, we met. It was immediately like
we've met a million times. We share the same language. We share the same vision. We share the same analysis. We fight the same fight. We share the
same values. And meeting people like that make this work much easier to carry the load, right, when you do it together, because we're not alone. We
are thousands and thousands of people who are carrying and pushing this forward. And so, it's been such a pleasure and honor and feels so, so
natural.
[13:35:00]
AMANPOUR: Rana?
SALMAN: Yes, I would say it felt also the same, because we have been doing interviews before we actually met in person. And when I first May, I felt
like I've known her for so long. It didn't feel that I haven't met her before.
And I think it's true, because we both work in the peace camp and we envision a future that is rooted in justice and peace. And we know that we
shared that partnership and we know that we are more strengthened, more empowered when we do that together. We're embodying the future that we want
to see and to bring about. That's what makes us more powerful. And that's what we are working to reach to that vision.
And it's an honor to do that alongside with May and to do this interview also alongside her and to continue this work and not give up on hope.
AMANPOUR: Well, it's a ray of beauty that you've brought on this dark day and in these dark times. So, we wish you all the best and thank you so much
for being with us. Rana and May, thank you so much.
SALMAN: Thank you.
PUNDAK: Thank you, Christiane.
AMANPOUR: Two extraordinary women waging peace. The day after October 7th, Israel launched its counteroffensive on Hamas in Gaza. The government says
it has killed thousands of militants and severely disrupted and degraded the terror group's command structure. But in a year of war with airstrikes,
tank fire, artillery, and guns, they have killed more than 40,000 Gazans, with thousands of women and at least 16,000 children among the dead,
according to authorities there.'
More than a hundred journalists have been killed. The world's only eyes and ears since the foreign press is banned. Youmna ElSayed, an Al Jazeera
correspondent also came on this program last year from Gaza to tell us the reality of trying to work there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOUMNA ELSAYED, AL JAZEERA ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT: I consider that my story is not important. The important thing that I do is to report about others,
because this is my duty. This is my turn in life. But at the same time, people don't really know that I'm living all the same struggles, the same
challenges, the same pain, the same worry, the same fear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AMANPOUR: Now, since that interview with Michel, Youmna has fled Gaza with her family, 10 months on. She joins Hari Sreenivasan now to discuss how
hard it was to leave and the stories she didn't then have the strength to tell.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARI SREENIVASAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christiane, thanks. Youmna ElSayed, thanks so much for joining us again.
Last time you were on the program was about 10 months ago. You were in Gaza. You were basically in a live truck, and that's where we were able to
catch up with you. Now, you have left the area. You're living in Egypt. Why did you leave? And what is life like now?
YOUMNA ELSAYED, AL JAZEERA ENGLISH CORRESPONDENT: Thank you for having me on your show, Hari. It was one of the most difficult decisions I've made to
leave Gaza. And I think that when I took this decision, it was the only choice that I had in order to save the lives of my children.
I was forced to leave because I was left with no other choice to protect their lives. I was threatened more than once, I was displaced over six
times, and life was getting incredibly more and more challenging every single day. It's not about the field, it's not about my work as a
journalist only, but it was -- my most concern, my greatest fears were always that my children at home are not safe and I could lose them in any
airstrike.
Life after coming out of Gaza hasn't been easy at all. I have been struggling with a survival guilt that was eating me since I left at the end
of December. And it has impacted me a lot physically and emotionally, mentally. And I found that the only way that I can actually overcome that
survival guilt that was completely taking control of me and my life was that I go around the world and speak about Gaza, because I felt that the
world wasn't listening enough to what we had to say and show them from inside Gaza. And I thought that this is how I can still contribute to Gaza
without feeling that I have abandoned it and left.
SREENIVASAN: Why do you think that there is still this gap in the number of people who hear about or understand what's happening in Gaza?
ELSAYED: Because of the under reporting by western and international journalists towards what's happening in Gaza. I believe that very honestly.
[13:40:00]
And this reality might seem very harsh on some people, or they might be really upset with me saying that, but it's the truth, because for a nation
on the other side of the world to start searching about what is happening in Gaza, that's not going to happen if they did not hear about it day and
night from their own journalists on the ground if they did not report about such a brutal war that we have been going through for an entire year now,
reporting it with its brutality, with how vicious it is, with all the crimes that are being committed against the Palestinians in Gaza.
People are hearing about it now because they have started following other Palestinian journalists from Gaza and watching social media platforms where
the residents themselves are documenting these war crimes that they are subjected to, but it has taken them a very long time.
SREENIVASAN: You have, in your reporting, talked quite a bit about just what it's like, not just being a reporter, but also being a mom. And one of
the stories, if you don't mind asking -- me asking, is there's a child with a blue backpack outside a hospital after the attack in communist. Can you
tell our audience about that?
ELSAYED: Yes. And unfortunately, this is one of the stories that I wasn't brave enough to document, because I wasn't able to be a journalist at that
time. Because the atrociousness of the scene that I saw as a human being and as a mother was unbearable.
I was at Nasser Hospital Medical Complex in Khan Younis, and a strike on a residential -- or a number of residential homes happened. We ran to the
entrance of the hospital, everyone, all the journalists, as we watched the ambulances rush into the entrance, and doctors and paramedics come out
quickly to take the casualties inside. And in one of those ambulances, a boy, not more than 12 years old, 11 to 12 years old, steps out of that
ambulance carrying a blue backpack on his chest, here.
He seems like he's been pulled out of the rubble with all the bruises and dust on his face and hair, but that blue backpack on his chest was very
strange to me. And he comes to me, steps down from that ambulance very quietly, and he asks me, do you know what's in my backpack? Before I can
answer, I see blood under the backpack, just like that, stains of blood, and I just know inside what I'm expecting to see. I know what he's trying
to tell me, I know what he's carrying, but maybe I didn't expect it to be that bad that he would tell me that it's his little brother, Ahmed (ph),
and he's five years old.
And I didn't have the courage to film that, to document that, because I felt that this is a situation that regardless of being a reporter,
regardless of being a war reporter, of seeing injuries and killed people and seeing people stuck under the rubble while they try to bring them out,
there are situations that you can't -- your heart can't take as a human being. And this was one of the situations.
And I felt for quite some time guilty that I was not brave enough to document it. Not for the fact of documenting it, because I wanted to be the
strongest story or anything. And I let him down, because I did not react quickly and document that. I blamed myself for days.
[13:45:00]
And this has been 10 months ago, and I can't get over it, and I will never get over it. The day I saw on the TV screen a father carrying two plastic
bags with his boy and girl in both his hands and screaming and saying, these are my children. Look at my children and their pieces, I thought to
myself, there was a more courageous journalist than me that was able to capture that. And now, this must end, this genocide.
Nobody can bear that. No leader, no politician, no one in the world can bear this scene of children cut into pieces, blown up into pieces like
that. But nothing changed. Nothing happened. It did not stop. That day, when nothing happened, when I saw that on TV, I stopped blaming myself for
not being courageous enough to document it. I actually thanked myself that I still had some humanity in me, that I wasn't able to document such a
vicious crime.
SREENIVASAN: Last month the offices in the West Bank were raided by Israeli forces and, you know, the Israeli reasoning was that that the
newsroom was quote, "being used to incite terror to support terrorist activities and that the channels broadcasts endanger security and public
order." What's your response to that and the colleagues that you had working there?
ELSAYED: First of all, Israel has always for years, it's not just now, it's not new, it has for years accused Al Jazeera with these accusations.
It has for years accused Al Jazeera to be a propaganda for Hamas and all these other terms and definitions that it has used towards Al Jazeera. But
in real-life, it has never presented one solid evidence for any of these accusations.
In 2021, the Israeli army leveled Al Jazeera Bureau saying also other allegations that the building was used for Hamas activities and so on
without one solid proof or evidence presented. We are used to these allegations and accusations by the Israeli army.
The only problem with the Israeli army really is that Al Jazeera is completely is presenting the full spectrum of the story. When Al Jazeera is
reporting about what is happening in the Israeli side, when its reporters are reporting about families of Israeli captives in Israel, or about the
Palestinian attacks in Israeli towns, or the aftermath of these attacks, or how it's impacting the Israeli civilians, then there is no problem with Al
Jazeera and what it's doing. It's doing a good job.
But when it's showing the same facts and reality that are happening to the Palestinian population, whether in the Gaza Strip or in the West Bank, the
confiscation of lands, the terror of the Israeli settlers, the ongoing violations and aggressions against the Palestinian residents, then it's
inciting terror.
SREENIVASAN: The IDF repeatedly says that they do not deliberately target journalists. It also told agencies shortly after the war started that it
could not guarantee the safety of journalists. At the same time, we've got the Committee to Protect Journalists say at least 127 journalists have been
killed and media workers have been killed over the past year, including some colleagues of yours like Samer Abudaqa, an Al Jazeera video
journalists.
ELSAYED: So, first of all, when the Israeli army says that it's not deliberately targeting journalists, we hear this all the time. While in
every single escalation, military escalation or war, the first thing that is targeted are the media offices, the journalism media offices in the Gaza
Strip. So, I don't know how this is not a deliberate targeting to the media bodies in Gaza.
[13:50:00]
Second of all, there are dozens of Palestinian journalists that were killed in direct attack while they are labeled with their press gear. And not just
in this -- I'm not just talking about this war, I'm talking about numerous other wars and escalations. And it was not just about targeting an entire
area and its collateral damage.
Samer Abudaqa, our cameraman, Al Jazeera Arabic cameraman, he was hit in an Israeli airstrike while they were covering an Israeli raid on a school. And
he was left to bleed for six hours while we are requesting an ambulance to enter and get him to save his life. And the Israeli army continued to say
no, and they know that he is inside there, he is injured, and he is bleeding. They let him bleed to death, and you tell me that is not a
deliberate targeting?
SREENIVASAN: We're having this conversation, it's being broadcast a year after the October 7th attacks when Hamas launched the attack that kill
1,200 people in Israel and spark this current war. And I wonder what you now, thinking about what you've lived through for this past year, what do
you reflect upon during this anniversary?
ELSAYED: Well, our life before the 7th of October, as Palestinians living in Gaza, it wasn't a normal life anyway, it wasn't easy, it wasn't simple.
We were deprived of the basic, legitimate rights of any human being in the world. We had no opportunities to travel, to plan a simple vacation like
any family in the world, even if we had the financial means, we couldn't -- if someone got sick, we weren't sure if we could be able to take this
person to treatment, lifesaving treatment somewhere else, or he would die in Gaza. The October 7th attack happened because of all this pressure that
the Palestinians have been living within.
SREENIVASAN: You have placed the responsibility on western nations enabling this to continue, and there's a recent quote from President Biden,
who said that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas and Israeli leaders want the hostages being held now for more than a year
returned. What do you say to that?
ELSAYED: First of all, I plus the responsibility and accountability on western governments and not nations, not the people, but the governments
and lawmakers. And second of all, well, I think this just shows, again, the complete double standards because what about all the Palestinian hostages
that have been taken in Israel?
Israel is the only place in the world that has military courts for children. Where was President Biden when that was happening? What did he
say about the Palestinian prisoners?
SREENIVASAN: Right now, you are living in Egypt. And are you able to work there? How -- what is life there like for you now?
ELSAYED: I left Gaza, evacuated to Egypt, like all other Palestinians. I am Palestinian Egyptian already. So, it is likely more easier for me as
someone with an Egyptian passport. But the reality of Palestinians in Egypt is completely difficult because they are living in exile. Because the
Palestinians in Egypt, how they got to Egypt, they had to pay to save their lives to evacuate to Egypt. Now, they live on their own expenses. They are
not allowed to work. Their school -- their children are not allowed to go to school, and they are not allowed to travel, because they have no
residency in Egypt.
So, all our children in Gaza lost an entire educational year, last year, because of the war. And this year, they have no opportunities to go to
school because in Egypt they can't go to school because they have no residency. And even the people who have spent what they -- whatever -- they
came out with whatever was left with them from their financial resources now have spent them and have no other options. They don't know what to do,
but they completely continue to live in this unknown situation.
[13:55:00]
SREENIVASAN: Al Jazeera correspondent and journalist Youmna El Sayed, thanks so much for joining us.
ELSAYED: Thank you, Hari.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AMANPOUR: And finally, tonight, let's look again at how some of the family and friends of the Israeli hostages still captive in Gaza marked this day.
People marched at sunrise, marking the exact moment their nightmare began. They held a moment of silence at the site of the Nova Music Festival to the
sounds of the final song they had heard there. Young people from all over Israel and all over the world who had come to enjoy the music and to dance.
This day of memory ended with a vigil for those hostages, more than a hundred alive and dead, who remain in Hamas captivity.
That is it for now. Thank you for watching. Goodbye from London.
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