CNN’s Clarissa Ward first Western reporter to enter Gaza without Israeli supervision

CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward has become the first Western journalist to have gone into the Gaza Strip without the Israel Defense Forces’ supervision, reporting from sight what she deemed “absolute horror.”

Ward entered the besieged strip on Wednesday with UAE medical volunteers and visited a field hospital setup by the Gulf country.

“Even in that brief window, you really got a sense of the absolute horrors that have been taking place in Gaza,” she said speaking to CNN.

“I can honestly say I don’t think we’ve ever seen it quite on this scale.” she expressed while reviewing the destruction she witnessed.

International coverage of Gaza depends on reports from Palestinian journalists, aid teams, health workers, and social media because of Israel’s entry bans.

As of yet, at least 63 journalists have been killed since October 7 in Israeli airstrikes.

Ward was initially accused of staging a video in which she can be seen trying to seek a safe place from attacks during live coverage near the Israel-Gaza border. CNN, however, rebutted these assertions, contending the authenticity of the video.