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CNN Live At Daybreak
Israeli Forces Struck at Hamas Targets in Gaza Overnight
Aired March 06, 2003 - 05:09 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: Now on to another conflict. That would be the all too familiar one in the Middle East. Israeli forces struck at Hamas targets in Gaza overnight, after a suicide bombing.
We go right to CNN's Mike Hanna in Jerusalem with the details -- Mike, tell us what happened.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, a massive Israeli military operation in the early hours of the morning. Israeli forces moving into the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. There were intense exchanges of fire and during that confrontation, 11 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, well over 100 wounded.
Now, among those killed, a group of eight, say Palestinian eyewitnesses, who were killed when a tank shell slammed into them while they were watching cleanup operations being conducted by Palestinian civil authorities in the wake of the Israeli raid. These eyewitnesses insisting that these eight who were killed were bystanders who were not armed. This disputed by the Israeli authorities. The Israeli Defense Force saying that it fired three tank shells during this confrontation. The third tank shell, it says, was aimed at a group of Palestinians, one of whom the Israelis contend, was carrying an RPG rocket launcher.
So that exchange of versions about what happening continuing. But more than 11 Palestinians killed, well over 100 Palestinians wounded in these ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza.
This comes a day after a suicide bomb attack, the first in Israel, the first attack in Israel for two months, in which 15 Israelis were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a bus in the Israeli port city of Haifa. Israeli authorities saying that the operation in Gaza not in response or retaliation for this, rather, it says the operation in Gaza part of its ongoing efforts to attempt to stop such terror attacks at source.
The Palestinians insisting that these Israel operations serve only to fuel such attacks against Israeli civilians, as happened in Haifa Wednesday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, just to get this straight, the Israeli attack in Gaza was not in retaliation for the suicide bomber?
HANNA: That is correct, Carol. That's according to Israeli authorities. One must remember that this is not a new attack. Israeli forces have been conducting operations in Gaza in particular for a number of weeks now. In the past month alone, over 70 Palestinians have been killed in these Israeli operations, which Israel itself says is directed at the militant Hamas organization. It has been carrying these operations out on a virtually daily basis and Israel saying that this operation part of this ongoing pattern of action, not in direct response or, as the Palestinians contend, revenge for that Haifa attack.
COSTELLO: Mike Hanna reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.
Thank you.
Check out our special Web report, Mideast: Land of Conflict, for background on the issues, key players and history of the region. Go to cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 6, 2003 - 05:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to another conflict. That would be the all too familiar one in the Middle East. Israeli forces struck at Hamas targets in Gaza overnight, after a suicide bombing.
We go right to CNN's Mike Hanna in Jerusalem with the details -- Mike, tell us what happened.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, a massive Israeli military operation in the early hours of the morning. Israeli forces moving into the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. There were intense exchanges of fire and during that confrontation, 11 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, well over 100 wounded.
Now, among those killed, a group of eight, say Palestinian eyewitnesses, who were killed when a tank shell slammed into them while they were watching cleanup operations being conducted by Palestinian civil authorities in the wake of the Israeli raid. These eyewitnesses insisting that these eight who were killed were bystanders who were not armed. This disputed by the Israeli authorities. The Israeli Defense Force saying that it fired three tank shells during this confrontation. The third tank shell, it says, was aimed at a group of Palestinians, one of whom the Israelis contend, was carrying an RPG rocket launcher.
So that exchange of versions about what happening continuing. But more than 11 Palestinians killed, well over 100 Palestinians wounded in these ongoing Israeli operations in Gaza.
This comes a day after a suicide bomb attack, the first in Israel, the first attack in Israel for two months, in which 15 Israelis were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in a bus in the Israeli port city of Haifa. Israeli authorities saying that the operation in Gaza not in response or retaliation for this, rather, it says the operation in Gaza part of its ongoing efforts to attempt to stop such terror attacks at source.
The Palestinians insisting that these Israel operations serve only to fuel such attacks against Israeli civilians, as happened in Haifa Wednesday -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, just to get this straight, the Israeli attack in Gaza was not in retaliation for the suicide bomber?
HANNA: That is correct, Carol. That's according to Israeli authorities. One must remember that this is not a new attack. Israeli forces have been conducting operations in Gaza in particular for a number of weeks now. In the past month alone, over 70 Palestinians have been killed in these Israeli operations, which Israel itself says is directed at the militant Hamas organization. It has been carrying these operations out on a virtually daily basis and Israel saying that this operation part of this ongoing pattern of action, not in direct response or, as the Palestinians contend, revenge for that Haifa attack.
COSTELLO: Mike Hanna reporting live from Jerusalem this morning.
Thank you.
Check out our special Web report, Mideast: Land of Conflict, for background on the issues, key players and history of the region. Go to cnn.com, AOL keyword: CNN.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
