11 am EET: I couldn’t help but feel panicked. I was using the computer on the 7th/ top floor business lounge when the sirens went off in our hotel.  Since rockets obviously fall out of the sky, the top floor of any building is the last place you want to be during a rocket attack.  I quickly walked out the door and had no idea where the bomb shelter was.  In front of me is a window running the length of the hall that overlooks the inviting deep blue sea.  Strike two for me, windows are the worst thing to hide behind in an attack.  I cower behind one of the cleaning carts housekeeping uses and a steel elevator door.

I can’t hear the children in the daycare located in the hotel.  They’ve gone silent for the first time this morning.  Rocket impacts a couple miles away hitting a home.  No fatalities or injuries.   Family wisely heeded the sirens warning and fled to their bomb shelter.

11:30 am: At the front desk I notice this sign:
Dear Guest,

For your comfort there are shelters on floors 1, 4, 5, 6.

Regards,
Hotel Management

No internet in hotel rooms, but bomb shelters on 4 floors.

1 pm: Producer Ian Rafferty  and I go to fill up gas and pick up water and sunflower seeds for the crew.  The alarm goes off again.  The woman behind the counter pulls my arm and drags me to a closet that’s clearly used for storing.  Packages of soda, chips, and bottled water surrounded us.  There is so much you can tell about a person’s ego based on how they enter a bomb shelter here.

A man with his son entered the “safe room” lacksadaisically – making a show of himself about how he wasn’t scared and how silly everyone else was who ran into the shelter.  Much to the irritation of my producer Ian and the people stuck behind him trying to get in.

15 minutes later Ian was still fuming saying, “Look if you think your too cool to enter a bomb shelter don’t jeopardize the other people who are scrambling to get in!”

There are a lot of people who think they’re too cool for a bomb shelter.  My general rule: If the local people are running to bomb shelters don’t pretend you’re too cool for them.”

236 pm: We go to pick up lunch for the crew at the border before our shift begins.  The alarm system in the city goes off.  We’re near a gas station.  Cameraman Dudi pulls next to the gas station.  I’m not sure this is so smart.  He says the roof is armored.  Ian and I disagree.   Dudi grabs his camera as we wait for the rocket to fall.  It hits close by.  We get in the car and drive down the street to the town of Sderot.

244 pm: We ask 3 different policemen where the rocket hit.  No one seems to know.  We don’t see any smoke.  Probably landed in a field somewhere.  If it had hit a home the authorities would know by now.

330 pm: Human rights groups say the White Phosphorous used in artillery shells by the Israeli military to create smoke screens has left burns on Palestinians in Gaza.  We shoot a stand up near a military area by an orange tree grove.  I pluck 10 oranges.  I’m a Florida girl.  I haven’t seen fresh fruit in weeks.

5 pm: When we arrive back a the work site overlooking Gaza,  Ian puts the oranges in a overturned Kevlar helmet and serves them to the crew.  They chuckle and nod approvingly.  It’s been a quiet day on the hill so far and everyone in the FOX camp seems to be in a good mood.  This is typical.  FOX personnel typically enjoy each others company – not always – but usually.

6 pm: Back in Jerusalem my other producer Ibrahim is working hard with editor Ronin to put together our package for Special Report about White Phosphorous burning Gaza civilians.

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545 am EET: The sirens go off in our hotel.  I’m so tired but I know I need to go to the bathroom, sit in the tub, and close the bathroom door. No time to go to the saferoom.  I wonder if the rest of our FOX News crew made it to their bathrooms or if they just rolled over.

3pm: A rocket makes a direct hit on a home in Ashkelon about 15 miles from Gaza.

4pm: We’re at the home.  Dudi and Ian checkout the site and are optimistic we can go LIVE from the 2nd floor of the house where the rocket hit.

They scramble to make it work, but that requires borrowing power from the house next door.  At one point the security guard who has taken over the home refused to let them back in the house where all our gear has been set up.  Dudi says something in Hebrew.  Somehow he managed to get us back in.

5pm: We’re broadcasting live for “America’s Newsroom”. Producer Ian Rafferty and Cameraman Dudi make the impossible happen.  They manage to get us up LIVE from the middle of the rubble.  President Bush has just wrapped up his final press conference.  He says Israel has a right to defend itself as long as rockets keep coming.

After the home we’re at was hit by a Grad rocket,  I talk to Bill Hemmer about how these rockets are smuggled through underground tunnels from Egypt to Gaza. Israel says for any ceasefire agreement to happen they want the tunnels stopped.  They took out 20 yesterday.

6pm: We’ve shot a standup for “Special Report” tonight and are heading back to the Gaza border for more LIVES.  Tune in tonight to Special Report with Bret Baier.

Keep checking back for the latest EXCLUSIVE coverage from Gaza!

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1 pm EET – There are two hurdles for women in a war zone.  Flak jackets and outdoor bathrooms.  The man from the flak jacket company brought several flaks, all of them too big for me.  I guess there’s not much of a market for women’s petite in the flak jacket industry.  I got fitted for a small flak jacket today. My producer Osnat helped to measure me.  “You don’t need to blog about this one,” she says to me before measuring.

2 pm — As I drive out to the border, there are still tanks being transported on flat bed trucks.  Some of these tanks are placed in storage facilities with humidifiers inside the tanks.  This way the tanks are battle-ready and can be used at a moment’s notice.

3:30 pm — I pull up to the hotel near the border where our FOX News crew is staying.  Ian Rafferty, my producer, tells me to check in first.  Journalists from all over the world are here, and there’s some worry there won’t be enough rooms.

The hotel isn’t allowed to use rooms on higher levels that are within range of rocket attacks.  Obviously with rockets falling from the sky, the higher floors are more likely to be hit first.  It’s one of the few times you don’t want to be on the top floor.

Ian has been to Baghdad.  He covered the 2006 Lebanon war from Israel.  He gets combat coverage.  He promises to help me move one of my mattresses up against the window of my room.  This way if a rocket lands nearby the mattress will help absorb any shrapnel or glass from shattered windows.  It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing. Truth is, if there’s a direct hit on the hotel the mattress really won’t help much.

4pm — We’re at the border with the rest of our FOX crew.  David Lee Miller is doing a live shot for America’s Newsroom.

I walk over to our Middle East Bureau Chief Eli Fastman.  He has set up a makeshift office (he prefers the term ‘command post’)  with a folding chair, binoculars, and a liter of bottled water.  He was the one who discovered this location.  Kind of funny — now dozens of international TV journalists are swarming the place.  Eli gets war and the Mideast.  And second only to perhaps Greta, he doesn’t sleep.  He’s here pretty much 24 hours a day.

We’re hearing that a United Nations school was hit by an Israeli missile.  UN officials on the ground here can’t reach people in Gaza.  Phone lines are cut. There were 40 Palestinians killed in that attack; 55 injured.

Israeli army says they received mortar fire from the school and returned fire.  They also say senior Hamas militants were killed.  Hamas TV hasn’t announced if any senior militants were killed, and it’s hard for us to independently confirm it.

UN is calling for an independent investigation.  They say they carefully vet anyone who enters these shelters, and there’s no way Hamas would’ve been allowed in.

The director of UN relief efforts in Gaza, John Ging, says the Israeli military was given the GPS coordinates for all UN schools and shelters.

Keep checking back for the latest EXCLUSIVE coverage from Gaza!

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LIVE Gaza Updates

1:30 pm EET: My cameraman Dudi and I are driving on Highway 1 from Jerusalem to the Gaza border.  There’s a flat bed truck with a giant Merkava tank being transported next to us. You can see war everywhere here. Cars are being checked by police on the highway.  They’ve set up a check point where cars coming from East Jerusalem and the West Bank can be searched.

2 pm: An Israeli radio station interviewed the mother of the first Israeli soldier killed in Gaza from this operation. She said her son sent her an SMS on her cell saying:

“My dearest mother in the world.  I’m looking after myself.  You look after yourself.  We will prove to the whole world and return the honor to the people of Israel.”

Israeli military came to the kindergarten where the mother works.  When they asked if she was the mother of Staff Sergeant Dvir Emmanueloff she said, “I understood. He was dead.”   Emmanueloff was part of a Golani combat engineers unit.  He was hit by shrapnel in a mortar attack.  Dvir Emmanueloff was 22 years old.

4 pm: A kindergarten has been hit in the Israeli town of Ashdod.  That means the rocket traveled about 25 miles.  Thankfully the school was closed, but the rocket hit the playroom. We walk into the school.  Legos were scattered everywhere on the floor amongst broken glass and the crumbled building. As we prepare to go LIVE on FOX, the Red Cross uses a megaphone to tell residents in the apartment building around the kindergarten to go back to their homes.  “Go on with your lives,” the Red Cross worker says.  He also warns there could be more rockets. The kindergarten teacher from the school tells me she prays for peace on both sides.  “I’m 52 years old and living in Israel this kind of war is all we’ve known,” she tells me.

5 pm: We’re headed back to the Gaza border.

6 pm: It’s now dark.  We can see and hear a lot of military activity in Gaza.

7:30 pm: There are lots of flares in the sky.  We hear drones and helicopters above.  Tank fire can be heard, and we also hear rockets landing in Israel.

8 pm: There’s an unexpected situation inside Gaza with grave consequences for the Israeli military.

8:30 pm: We can hear sirens.

Keep checking back for the latest on the Gaza border!

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Update -5:00pm: The Indian media here are reporting Deccan Mujaheedin has sent emails to Indian Media saying a 2nd attack will come Dec 3rd- Dec 7th and will target Delhi, Bangalore, or Chennai  airports.

I heard one guy practically yelling on TV saying, “If I’m going to get killed in a war – I don’t mind.  I just don’t want to get killed while eating food with my parents at a restaurant.”

4:42pm: Pierre was attacked by an angry mob last night while we where in between LIVE shots.  One man started shouting and threatened to beat him.  They were looking to pick a fight.  Varuna stepped in and spoke to them in Hindi.  That managed to calm them down.   People are so emotionally charged here.  Tonight feels like the climax.  We took no chances.  We headed to the area of The Oberoi Hotel to do our LIVE shots, instead.

A young girl, no older than 5 years, was selling coloring books.  20 rupees for one (40 cents) or 10 for 180 rupees ($3.50). I bought 10, gave her 200 rupees and told her to keep the books.  She refued and said I had to take them.

3:13pm: The crowds are getting out of control.  We can’t find our driver to head to The Oberoi Hotel for lives. No one has a cell phone signal.  Crowds keep streaming in from all directions.

We decide to take a cab.  All the taxi drivers refuse to take anyone.  After the fifth cab refused us.  I just opened the door to the sixth cab and got in.  Cameraman Pierre, Producer Mark and Varuna, and I pile in.

1:15pm: As we made our way to The Taj Hotel LIVE shot position, just before sunset, we knew we had problems.  Thousands of Mumbai residents were marching to the hotel.  It was supposed to be a peaceful solidarity march but there was lots of negative energy.

Some signs read:

“Die Pakistan Die”

“Make Pakistan history”

“8% GDP growth, 100% terrorism growth”

My cameraman Pierre and I climbed up a street divider full of plants to do a standup to show just how large the crowds were.

Keep checking back for more updates LIVE from India!

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We visited the site where the terrorists sailed in from.

Check it out in the video below:

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Guards outside of the Taj Hotel

The commando emerged from The Taj Hotel tired, sweaty and unshaven.  A white surgical mask hung below his chin.  He seemed completely drained. The three-day standoff had just ended, but night had fallen before the commandos began to leave the compound.

He explained that there were still 150 bodies inside The Taj Hotel on Saturday night — most shots were by AK-47 rounds. He told us, “They were all over the hotel — on the floors, in the kitchen, in the bedrooms, just scattered throughout.”

I asked him: “What was the most difficult moment during the standoff?”

He paused for a moment and said, “The fact that they didn’t even spare the women or children.”

The commando walked us through the final hours.  “It was 4 a.m. Saturday morning and suddenly we heard two massive explosions,” he said. “Then loud gunfire.  Then another explosion.  All of them coming from inside the Taj.”  The leader of the Indian commando unit had announced several hours before that the operation was nearing its final hours.  “The lights went off in the hotel,” he told us. “Then some lights started blinking.  It appeared as though someone was sending a message.  But no one knows for sure.”

The commando told us that in the last few hours there were two militants left.  Grenades were thrown to try to knock the terrorists off balance.  Then shots were fired.  The attackers were ultimately killed on the first floor of the hotel.

When I asked why authorities were unable to end the siege earlier, he said: “It was hard to tell how many there were.  The terrorists would keep firing and move around. They had so much ammunition and they really knew their way around the hotels well.”

He said the terror group used “incendiary bombs” — meaning they’d throw grenades at gas canisters. This also means they had access to the hotels early on.  Both hotels — the Taj and the Oberoi — have denied their employees were involved in the attacks.

The commando still looked slightly overwhelmed as he described the attackers’ having a surprising level of sophistication. “They had satellite phones,” he told us. “You wouldn’t believe the amount of ammunition that was used inside. I didn’t realize how advanced terrorists are today.”

Here are some EXCLUSIVE photos from India:

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It felt like the Taj Hotel was moments away from exploding.  We stood only 200 feet from it.

At the beginning of the night we heard only a couple of gunshots each hour.

But then came larger explosions.  We were told by Indian police that they were likely stun grenades.  They were lobbed into hotel rooms to startle the terrorists who were still inside the hotel. Reports said as many as five could still be alive.

Indian comandos, the country’s most elite force, then went from room to room to clear the hotel.

Late in the evening the head of the commando unit said the standoff was in its final hours.

By morning it came to a dramatic end.

Indian forces concluded the operation with a burst of gunfire and a volley of grenades.

The Taj still stands majestically — though now with broken windows and a charred facade. Yet we all know its beauty is belied by the gruesome crime scene inside.

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It’s electric.

There’s a mix of excitement and anticipation here in the Middle East after Barack Obama won the election this week.  People on both sides of the conflict are eager to see what change the president-elect will bring to the region.

 In Israel they’re buzzing about Obama’s new chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel.  The Israeli media were quick to say he’ll be good for Israel.  During the Gulf War he served as a volunteer in northern Israel, rust-proofing brakes for military vehicles near the Lebanon border.

Dr. Benjamin Emanuel, his father, told an Israeli newspaper: “My son isn’t going to the White House to wash the floors.  He’ll be influential and he’ll be pro-Israeli.”

Dr. Emanuel was born in Jerusalem and was part of the Irgun, the Jewish underground that believed in fighting the British, who then ruled Palestine.

Some within diplomatic quarters think that Emanuel may be just what Israel needs in the White House –  someone who understands the Jewish state but who’s also capable of handing out  some tough love.

Rahm in Hebrew means “thunder” (it can also mean high or lofty) and Barack, “lightning.”
 
Come January the White House will have both.  But no one seems to know what this means for the new White House’s foreign policy. 

Will the Obama administration talk to Iran?
Will there be a large scale U.S. troop withdrawal in Iraq?
Will the U.S. talk to Hamas, a group the White House lists as a terrorist organization?
Will the Palestinians finally get statehood?

No one seems to have the answers yet.

But a loyal Fox News viewer from Tel Aviv emailed me this bible passage after my mention on Fox’s Live Desk on Thursday about the White House’s new lightning and thunder team:

Psalm 77:18:
   18 The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind; The lightnings lightened the world: The earth trembled and shook.
   19 Thy way was in the sea, And thy paths in the great waters, And thy footsteps were not known.

So we all wait.

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Stanley Fischer

Israelis are divided over who should take over for outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, but they’re not divided on who should run the country’s central bank.

Meet Stanley Fischer. He’s the Governor of the Bank of Israel.

He was plucked from Citigroup to come to Israel.  Among other things, he’s managed to help the Israeli shekel gain ground against the dollar and the Euro.  But he also knows Israel isn’t immune from the worldwide credit crisis.  He said “Israel’s economy could also suffer next year.”

And did I mention he was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s thesis advisor?  Bernanke wrote about the Great Depression as a graduate student at M.I.T.  In my interview, Fischer talks about Bernanke’s thesis and the lessons he learned from studying the Great Depression.  Some of those lessons, he says,  are being applied in today’s markets.

Still, it must be hard for a Wall Street veteran to be so far away from the financial meltdown’s ground zero.  Fischer says he’s still waiting for his invitation to the November 15th global economic summit in Washington.

Check out my interview with Stanley Fischer:

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Everyone in our Jerusalem bureau stuck their heads outside the window of our 8th floor office.

We were waiting to hear the ambulance sirens after we got word of a possible attack.

Seconds later we were out the door.

Minutes later we arrived to find a car overturned and a bulldozer next to it.

After working all day, a Palestinian man from East Jerusalem rammed his bulldozer over cars and hit a bus. A civilian in a nearby car noticed and shot him. Then a border policeman heard the shots and also fired.

The bulldozer operator is dead.

Police tell us… 24 injured…5 of them physical injuries 19 from shock. The incident taking place half a block where Obama is expected to be stay for the next day or so. Police say this attack has nothing to do with his visit.

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High gas prices could be a good thing for America.

That’s what one Middle East expert told me as he tried to explain that the high price of oil might force America to rethink its energy policy.

But is it possible to never pay for gas ever again?

Shai Agassi, ceo of Project Better Place, says, Yes.

He convinced the Israeli government that electric cars are the future. Israelis will get a significant tax break for buying electric. Renault-Nissan has agreed to build them. And the Israeli government has also approved building charging stations throughtout the country.

Agassi hopes that the U.S will follow.

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harm el-Sheikh, Egypt— I was only two questions into the interview when an Egyptian cabinet minister, son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, jumped out of his chair to stop our conversation.

Gamal looked at the minister and indicated he was determined to continue. His 26- year-old wife Khadiga walked closer to our interview with great interest.

I continued with my question…

“Rockets are still being smuggled into Gaza from Egypt. Why is that continuing?”

“I know this problem,” Mubarak told me. “It is a challenge. Some members of (U.S.) Congress have been raising this, and I met with a Congressional delegation. I said, nobody should think for a second that Egypt is turning a blind eye on the smuggling. The Israelis have to deal on their side too. No border, even the US-Mexican border is totally sealed. We’re doing our all and I have to assume the Israelis are doing their all too.”

If you don’t know Gamal Mubarak, chances are good in the coming years you’ll hear more from the 45-year-old Egyptian politician. Many Egyptians and Middle East analysts believe when his 80- year-old father is no longer president he’ll likely take over. When I asked him about inheriting power from his father he said,

“That’s just speculation.”

One senior western diplomat, who recently met with Gamal at the World Economic Forum in Sharm el- Sheikh, Egypt, told Fox News he’s impressed with him and how involved he is within the international political arena.

The diplomat said, “There’s no doubt Gamal represents a new generation of rising young leaders in the Middle East.”

But that hasn’t stopped the criticism directed at him and his father. Egyptian rights activists argue that a dynastic succession is undemocractic…and exactly the opposite of President George W. Bush’s vision for the Middle East.

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My questions were tough. I wasn’t sure how he’d react. I wondered if former President Jimmy Carter would walk out of the interview.

He didn’t.

He answered every question and never seemed ruffled, even when I asked him if he’d be willing to meet with Al Qaeda.

The answer was an emphatic, “No.”

Everyone has an opinion regarding whether the former president should have met with Hamas leaders in Egypt and Syria. The U.S. and Israel didn’t want him to do it.

But in an interview with FOX News the former president said he was going to listen to the other side. He said he didn’t want authority or a mediating role. Secretary Rice said meeting with Hamas confuses the U.S. message that they wont deal with them.

On the other side….some Israelis were offended that senior Israeli leaders did not meet with the former president. It’s hard to deny President Carter’s influence in the Middle East. Twenty-nine years ago he negotiated Israel’s first peace with neighboring state Egypt. It’s a peace that has lasted decades later.

President Carter is the only remaining leader from the Israel-Egypt peace accords. Some how he managed to get Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin to draft a peace accord in 1979. But critics say he was too optimistic and perhaps even unrealistic to expect a breakthrough with Hamas.

Carter also spoke to us about the campaign trail.

Last week as he left the American Colony hotel, I asked him if he supports Barak Obama. At that point a secret service agent gently picked me up around the waist and deposited me two steps over. He did it all without being untoward. Clearly I was too close to the former president.

This time when I asked the question secret service didn’t intervene,

“Everyone of my children, every one of my grandchildren, all of their spouses, the people of my hometown, and the people of my home state of Georgia, have all expressed their strong preference for Obama. I will wait and decide later when to announce my decision.”

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With only my basic Arabic, I could tell we had a problem.

The Palestinian militant was telling my producer he didn’t think it was appropriate that he be filmed walking with me. He said religious men can’t be seen in the streets walking with women.

In the end, he accepted to walk but avoided looking at me.

(I didn’t take it personally.)

The militant, Abu Abeer, is a spokesman for Popular Resistance in Gaza. He told us he’s responsible for firing rockets from Gaza into Israel. When I asked him why he does it, he says the “Zionist occupation” has to end.

Popular Resistance was created at the beginning of the second Intifada (Palestinian Uprising) in September 2000 with former members of other Palestinian militant groups.

Fatah, the Palestinian group loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, claims Hamas uses this group for their dirty work. Fatah blames Popular Resistance for killing the cousin of the late Palestinian President Yasir Arafat. They’re also responsible for firing rockets. But when Hamas gives them the orders to stop … they listen.

The group says their political agenda is “to liberate Palestine from the Mediterranean sea to the Jordan River.” Meaning, they believe, Israel has no right to exist and and the land belongs to the Palestinians only.

Popular Resistance doesn’t have the same discipline as Hamas. But they were one of three groups that kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006. Hamas says Shalit is in their control and alive.

Abu Abeer is just one Rocketman in Gaza … but he’s nothing like the Rocketman Elton John sings about.

(captions from left – right)

1. Militants from “Popular Resistance” launch rockets from Gaza to Israel.
2. Rockets prepared for launching by militants from “Popular Resistance” in Gaza.
3. Reena Ninan in Gaza in front of the aftermath from an Israeli airstrike.

TOP PHOTO: Abu Abeer, Spokesman for militant group “Popular Resistance” in Gaza interviewed by Fox’s Reena Ninan.

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Read my blog from Friday for more on the story!

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We headed to Jerusalem’s Old City for what’s supposed to be the most somber day in the Christian calendar, where thousands of Christians from around the world are retracing Jesus’ footsteps. They walk what’s known as the Via Dolorosa ( the Way of Sorrow) which is the path Jesus walked carrying the cross on the way to being crucified. We spoke to a family from New Mexico who said they can’t even explain how incredible it is to be here for Easter weekend.

Some Christians fast on Good Friday. But we were so hungry after spending all morning in the heat. Cameraman Dudi suggested we head to “Ikermawi” for hummus.

If we wrote a travel guide for Jerusalem … Ikermawi would be listed under “Best Place for Hummus.” It’s right outside Damascus Gate in the Old City.

The owner, Muhammed, took over the store from his father years ago. A pint of hummus costs a little more than $3 (13 shakels). He says it’s the most expensive hummus in Jerusalem. But I say it’s worth it.

He brings me a small dish of hummus topped with chickpeas, foul (like refried beans), olive oil, lemon juice, parsley.

Muhammed says if you buy a pint, it’s only good for 24 hrs. Apparently the combination of lemon juice, parsley, and fresh garlic only keeps for one day.

His restaurant is the size of a walk-in closet. There are only 3 tables outside. Muhammed says you can see the world from the front of his store.

There are tourists, locals, police, he even says sometimes drug dealers do exchanges nearby … all of this taking place outside the historic Old City walls.

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