Having been off-the-air from covering the Israel-Hamas war for roughly three weeks, CBS foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab resurfaced to lead off Friday’s CBS Mornings and, as he had from the onset of the war, played an incredibly reliable role of a tool for the terrorist organization trashing Israel’s response to Hamas’s October 7 animalism.
Tyab was somehow allowed to embed with the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), which co-host Tony Dokoupil said took him “to the Al-Shifa Hospital complex, which Israel says has been a center of operations for Hamas, but is now also the focus of criticism over Israel’s tactics.”
From the get-go, Tyab was dripping with skepticism for anything Israel said, whining that “central to Israel’s justifications of its devastating military campaign on Gaza is its claim that Hamas’s armed wing has been running extensive operations from within the Al-Shifa Hospital.”
Along with noting the only way to get to his beloved Gaza was with the IDF, Tyab griped he and his camera crew “could only go where they wanted to take us and see what they wanted to show us."
Tyab expressed how crestfallen he was by Israel’s response, fretting that the “view screen” inside an armored tank “show[ed] the ghostly wreckage of building after building and not a single person in sight” inside “what was once a vibrant city, home to nearly 800,000 Palestinians”.
Tyab scoffed at the bombshell that the IDF found an entrance to a tunnel inside the Al-Shifa complex, arguing it was only what “they say is proof Hamas fighters used the hospital as a command center.”
After highlighting the vast weapons cache, Tyab went back and forth with two members of the IDF’s special forces with the pro-Hamas narrative that the IDF hasn’t really proven anything and what they do have on Hamas “is underwhelming” (click “expand”):
TYAB: The criticism is, is that the evidence provided so far is underwhelming, that it doesn’t show unequivocally that this was a Hamas command center.
IDF SOLDIER #1: Well, it will take us time --
IDF SOLDIER #2 [FACE BLURRED]: This — just a second, this was not just one Hamas headquarter. This was at least three headquarters working simultaneously in the city and outside the city.
TYAB [TO IDF SOLDIER #2]: This is a level of detail, which we’re not seeing though. If you knew there are three separate command centers, but we can’t see any of that.
IDF SOLDIER #2 [FACE BLURRED]: This is — it’s not something you can see right now.
Because of course he had to, Tyab invoked the terrorist-run Gaza Ministry of Health’s new talking point without a scintilla of skepticism: “According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, around 650 patients, many critically ill, still remain inside, but we were not allowed access to any of them.”
Moments later, Dokoupil asked Tyab “what else struck you” since “Gaza is the place you’ve been before” and, sure enough, Tyab’s answer was revealing as he said he’s “been going to” Gaza “for well over a decade.”
And, not only that, but he has “friends” and “former colleagues” there, adding “what struck me as soon as we entered was the smell” of “death in the air as bodies decompose under the rubble and then what we could see even in the darkness was destroyed buildings as far as the eye could see.”
Tyab said Al-Shifa’s supposed to be “a place of refuge,” but Israel undid that. Before wrapping, he thanked so-called journalists in Gaza for “sending us those pictures every single day of the devastation” (which NewsNation has pointed out is a term that should be used loosely).
ABC’s Good Morning America again had national correspondent Matt Gutman on the case for Friday’s show. Like the day prior, he presented the Gaza/Hamas view to an IDF spokesman and fretted about the “deepening humanitarian crisis as the World Health Organization says more than half of all hospitals in Gaza are no longer functioning.”
Speaking again to IDF Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler, he asked if he had any “understand[ing]” of how Palestinians feel about having “been bombed” and “no longer feel safe” and stopped “listening to the Israeli military because, even in the south, the places that are supposed to be safer, is apparently not.”
Shefler replied by noting it is “safer” given the fact that, in that “area — we’re bringing — allowing and pushing more humanitarian aid to come.”
To see the relevant CBS transcript from November 17, click “expand.”
CBS Mornings
November 17, 2023
7:00 a.m. Eastern [TEASE]TONY DOKOUPIL: CBS News embeds with Israeli forces searching Gaza’s largest hospital where they believe Hamas may have held hostages.
(....)
7:02 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Israel-Hamas War; Inside Gaza’s Besieged Hospital; CBS News Gets Access to Al-Shifa Hospital at Center of War Zone]
DOKOUPIL: [W]e’re going to begin with new signs that Israel’s military, its assault on Gaza rounding out Hamas still has a long way to go. This morning, Israeli Army chief-of-staff has said that he expects “more and more” regions of that tiny strip of land will be targeted as his troops get closer to “dismantling Hamas.” Imtiaz Tyab traveled with Israeli soldiers to the Al-Shifa Hospital complex, which Israel says has been a center of operations for Hamas, but is now also the focus of criticism over Israel’s tactics. And Imtiaz joins us now. Imtiaz, you know that region well. You’ve worked there for years. What did you learn visiting Al-Shifa?
IMTIAZ TYAB: Tony, good morning to you. Well, central to Israel’s justifications of its devastating military campaign on Gaza is its claim that Hamas’s armed wing has been running extensive operations from within the Al-Shifa Hospital. Now, the only way for us, as international journalists, to enter Gaza is with the Israeli military. We were taken to the sprawling medical complex by one of Israel’s elite special forces unit. We could only go where they wanted to take us and see what they wanted to show us, but Israel’s army had no control over our final reports. We traveled deep into Gaza under the cover of darkness in one of Israel’s most sophisticated armored personnel carriers, called the Namer, the tiger. This armored personnel vehicle is the only way for us to get to the Al-Shifa Hospital, which is now surrounded by Israeli forces and has been the epicenter of this battle here in Gaza City. As we pass through the battered streets of what was once a vibrant city, home to nearly 800,000 Palestinians, a view screen shows the ghostly wreckage of building after building and not a single person in sight. Back outside, we are met by the Sayeret Matkal, one of Israel’s most elite special forces unit. We’re walking through the streets of Gaza City and even in the darkness, you can see nearly everything is in ruins. These special forces led the raid on the Al-Shifa Hospital complex and have been searching it since Wednesday, and this is what they found, a tunnel they say is proof Hamas fighters used the hospital as a command center. We were then taken inside a small one-story building where we were shown a collection of grenades, rifles, and ammunition apparently taken from a vehicle also found on the hospital’s grounds. [TO IDF SOLDIER] The criticism is, is that the evidence provided so far is underwhelming, that it doesn’t show unequivocally that this was a Hamas command center.
IDF SOLDIER #1: Well, it will take us time --
IDF SOLDIER #2 [FACE BLURRED]: This — just a second, this was not just one Hamas headquarter. This was at least three headquarters working simultaneously in the city and outside the city.
TYAB [TO IDF SOLDIER #2]: This is a level of detail, which we’re not seeing though. If you knew there are three separate command centers, but we can’t see any of that.
IDF SOLDIER #2 [FACE BLURRED]: This is — it’s not something you can see right now.
TYAB: The Biden administration backs Israel’s claims the Al-Shifa Hospital was used by Hamas’s armed wing. According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, around 650 patients, many critically ill, still remain inside, but we were not allowed access to any of them. Now, this morning, the Israeli military announced that they had recovered the body of the 19-year-old soldier, Noa Marciano, who was one of the Israelis abducted on October 7. They say they found her body in a structure “adjacent to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza.” Now, it’s not clear whether this was the same structure where they found the body of 66-year-old hostage, Yuhedit Weiss, whose remains were also found just yesterday, Tony.
DOKOUPIL: Yeah, that 66-year-old grandmother alive and at home on October 7th, now dead and inside Gaza, where she was found. Gaza is the place you’ve been before. The cost of the Israeli response are significant. You mentioned the battered streets. What else struck you as even under a cover of darkness you were able to look around a little?
TYAB: Yes, Tony, Gaza is a place I’ve been going to for well over a decade. I have friends there, former colleagues and what struck me as soon as we entered was the smell. You can smell death in the air as bodies decompose under the rubble and then what we could see even in the darkness was destroyed buildings as far as the eye could see. Not a single building intact, and then there was the Al-Shifa Hospital. This is the largest hospital in Gaza. It is known as a place of refuge. It is known as a place of safety, But what we saw was a place of devastation, and a place of despair, but very quickly, I would like to add that the Palestinian journalists inside Gaza who had been sending us those pictures every single day of the devastation there continue to do so while we can only enter with Israeli forces.
DOKOUPIL: They are doing important work. The question of that devastation for the world is who do you blame, Hamas or the IDF? Imtiaz Tyab helping us paint a picture. Imtiaz, thank you very much.
(....)
8:01 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Israel-Hamas War]
TYAB: We’re walking through the streets of Gaza City and even in the darkness, you can see here that everything is in ruins.
DOKOUPIL: CBS News is on the ground with the Israeli military in Gaza and gets a look at the besieged Al-Shifa Hospital.
