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CNN Live At Daybreak

Israeli Incursion in West Bank Widens

Aired June 24, 2002 - 06:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning our attention now to the Middle East, the Israeli incursion into West Bank areas widened today, as tanks rolled again into Ramallah. Israel also launched a missile attack in Gaza.

CNN's Matthew Chance joins us from Ramallah with more -- good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you as well, Carol. Let's start off here in Ramallah, where since the early hours of this morning, we have been seeing Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and armored bulldozers move in some force into central Ramallah.

They have already been, for the past week or so, in several towns in the West Bank, in Nablus, in Bethlehem, in Qalqilya. They are in Ramallah now, surrounding key areas of this city, notably, of course, Yasser Arafat's presidential compound, which is just a couple of hundred yards from where I am standing right now.

About 80 tanks altogether have moved into the central areas. A curfew has been imposed. The streets are very clear. People have not been told when they will be allowed to come out next.

Let me take you now to Gaza, where there has also been a great deal of military activity, a lot of confusion, a lot of chaos on the ground there, as Israeli Defense Forces, Israeli military helicopter gunships strike at two Palestinian cars, killing at least six people, six Palestinians inside.

One of the Palestinians has been named as Yasser Rizek, a known militant of the Palestinian radical group, Hamas. There were also two of his brothers and three other people killed in that. Palestinian emergency workers say at least nine people, including several bystanders, were injured during that attack. Israel says that Yasser Rizek had been planning suicide attacks inside Israel.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned what it calls Israel's escalation of its war in the region, condemning the killing of the six Palestinians. Saeb Erakat, a Palestinian cabinet minister, saying that that brings to 18, the number of Palestinians that have been killed in the past three days. He also accused Israel of resuming its occupation of West Bank territories, Palestinian territories given to them under the Oslo peace accords. Now, in the past, these operations by the Israeli military have been, in their words, pinpoint. They have been for a short duration on the basis of intelligence information that they have for several days or several weeks. It's not clear though, given that the Israeli cabinet has indicated that forces may be allowed to stay much longer than that, it's not clear how long these forces will be on the ground in the West Bank -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We are looking at the people behind you, Matthew. Can you explain to us who they are and what they are doing? They are obviously Israeli military people, but what are they doing right there watching you?

CHANCE: Well, these, Carol, are members of the Israeli Defense Forces, the Israeli army. They are on an armored personnel carrier, and they are standing just about 100 yards or so from Yasser Arafat's presidential compound.

You can see that just in front of this armored personnel carrier, there is a big earth and concrete barricade that has been made. That was erected some hours ago by an Israeli armored bulldozer. Several of those bulldozers have been sealing off the streets, the entry points into Yasser Arafat's compound.

The idea of that, they say, is not so that Yasser Arafat and the members of the Palestinian Security Forces inside can't get out. But it says -- but they say it's because they are conducting operations inside Ramallah itself, and they don't want members of militant groups to move into the compound, where they feel they will be better protected -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you very much -- Matthew Chance reporting live from Ramallah for us this morning.

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