‘Tonight Is Unlike Any Other’: Fox News’s Trey Yingst Reports Israel-Hamas War Has Entered Its ‘Next Phase’

Fox News’s Trey Yingst reported live from southern Israel on Friday as the IDF began what he called the “next phase” in its war against Hamas.

“Want to just give you some new information because my source inside Gaza is texting me as we talk here. And I’m just going to read you exactly what he said to me,” Yingst began, noting the tank fire in the distance.

“More tank fire into the northern part of Gaza. Again, it shows you just how close we are here. You can hear the tanks firing from the ridge that we are standing on into Gaza. And it takes a few seconds until the ground actually hits its target. And then you hear a smaller explosion in the distance,” Yingst said, adding:

Back to what I was saying here, though, about my source inside Gaza, more tank fire. But the source in the middle part of Gaza, he evacuated south following those warnings by the Israelis. And I asked him what the mood is tonight in Gaza. He says, ‘Unfortunately, no connection to know what’s going on.’

Remember, he has a foreign SIM card, so he is bouncing these messages off an Israeli cell tower. There’s no local cell signal in Gaza right now. He says, ‘Sound is very big and we’re scared. Gaza tonight is alone. I can’t confirm these airstrikes. The targets, people, civilians or hospitals. We’re trying to reach some people inside Gaza City, but no connection.’

This is a source that I have used to confirm information about what’s happening in Gaza. So that is why he’s giving me that last part. It gives you a sense there are more than 2 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza not affiliated with Hamas or Islamic Jihad. There are also thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters along the strip. That is why this is so complicated, what’s taking place. But we’ve got to talk about the civilians in Gaza who are innocent bystanders in all of this.

And they are also terrified tonight. War is such a terrible thing. And when you think about what it is like inside the strip, we’ve been there when war erupts, not a war this large, though. And the amount of air power hammering Gaza, the artillery in the distance. This is the front line of a ground war between Israel and Gaza.

It will be a bloody urban battle as these Israeli forces enter. And even if this is contained tonight to an extended raid inside the Gaza Strip, we are talking about these Israeli troops being immediately engaged. They will not simply roll into Gaza with tanks and APC’s. They will face a fierce resistance from the factions inside the strip, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And there is a battle raging behind us as we speak.

“Trey, obviously always take safety with your crew as you see anything come in. We hear it. We have seen a lot of it and it seems to be escalating just the last few minutes. I wrote down what you just said, Trey, as we have a few minutes to the top of the hour here, almost 3:00 here on the East Coast, almost 10 p.m. there in southern Israel. You said in the 21 days that you’ve been covering this. Tonight is unlike any other, Trey. Obviously, things are changing,” noted anchor Sandra Smith.

“Absolutely. Things are changing. This is the next phase of the war,” Yingst replied, adding:

At this moment, I cannot confirm to you that the ground operation has begun. What we can tell you is that a new phase is underway right now as we speak. The Israelis are describing that phase as an extension of the raids that were taking place over the past few nights. But this war is entering a phase that we knew it would enter according to the top intelligence officials we’re talking to, not just here on the ground, but also in the United States.

We’ve been trying to get a full picture of what’s taking place here. And this was what was described to us as the next step in all of this, increasing the airstrikes, pushing in on the ground to test what the resistance would be like for the Israeli soldiers and then ultimately continuing with the plan. And that plan, according to the Israeli military and the defense minister, who we talked with face to face today in Tel Aviv, is to completely destroy Hamas.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News .