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CNN Live Today
Hamas Leader Wounded in Israeli Missile Strike
Aired June 10, 2003 - 11:00 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A spiraling cycle of violence threatening the latest Middle East peace efforts. This morning, the militant group Hamas vows revenge for an Israeli missile attack. Israeli helicopter gunships fired on a jeep in Gaza. The strike targeted a Hamas leader. He was wounded, And two other people were killed, including a mother and a bodyguard.
CNN's Mike Hanna is tracking the latest developments from there. He joins us live with the details -- Mike.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, once again, a moment of crisis, an attempt to implement the U.S.-backed Road map, a road map intended to end the violence in the region, but there was much violence in the course of the day.
The target of the Israeli helicopter strike in Gaza City was apparently a senior member of the militant Hamas movement, Abdel Aziz Al-Rantissi, this very much the public face of Hamas. The missiles struck the vehicle in which he was traveling. A number of missiles were fired. Rantissi managed to escape, along with his teenaged son. At least two people were killed in the attack, including a bodyguard for Rantissi.
Well over 20 people were injured. Among them, as I said, Rantissi himself, who was taken to a nearby hospital, and in comments there to the media, he made clear that the attack would not deter him from his end. He says, our holy war will continue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL AZIZ RANTISSI, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We are facing murderers, terrorists, occupiers, and I see to do (UNINTELLIGIBLE). No peace with occupation. Occupation contradicts peace. If they want security, the tragedy of Palestinians should be ended.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNA: Well, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas also reacted with fury, describing the operation as a criminal and terrorist act, saying that it sharply undermines efforts to forge a cease fire. Abbas had been involved in cease-fire negotiations with militant groups. Among them, the Hamas organization.
Well, certainly, nobody in a mood to talk in the course of this day. In Gaza City, in late afternoon, widespread demonstrations as Palestinians gathered to protest the strike against the Hamas leader, and also to insist that they would have nothing to do with the U.S.- backed road map.
So little less than a week after the Palestinian prime minister, the Israeli prime minister and George W. Bush met at a summit in Jordan, once again, attempts to impose and implement this U.S.-backed road map were really asunder -- Fredricka..
WHITFIELD: Well, Mike, each side is expressing these acts are in retaliation to two recent attacks. If that's the case, doesn't it seem both sides are also going back on their agreement of a cease- fire, which is the first phase of this road map to peace?
HANNA: Well, once again, it's difficult to find sides here. The violence that has been carried out against Israeli targets was conducted by militant organizations, one of them Hamas. Now the Palestinian prime minister had sharply condemned those attacks. The attack that we have in the course of the day is an attack that was clearly sanctioned by the Israeli government. This admitted by the Israeli Defense Force, which says it was acting in terms of instructions from higher echelons.
But Israel argues that Hamas will not come on board the road map, that Hamas is a danger to the peace process, saying that it will take action against those who threaten the security. This is not the view of the Palestinian leadership, the political leadership, the Palestinian Authority, nor is it the view of the United States, who are insistent that actions such as this carried out by Israel today do not guarantee the security of Israel, and in effect, have the opposite effect -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you very much, Mike Hanna from Jerusalem. Thank you.
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 June 10, 2003 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A spiraling cycle of violence threatening the latest Middle East peace efforts. This morning, the militant group Hamas vows revenge for an Israeli missile attack. Israeli helicopter gunships fired on a jeep in Gaza. The strike targeted a Hamas leader. He was wounded, And two other people were killed, including a mother and a bodyguard.
CNN's Mike Hanna is tracking the latest developments from there. He joins us live with the details -- Mike.
MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, once again, a moment of crisis, an attempt to implement the U.S.-backed Road map, a road map intended to end the violence in the region, but there was much violence in the course of the day.
The target of the Israeli helicopter strike in Gaza City was apparently a senior member of the militant Hamas movement, Abdel Aziz Al-Rantissi, this very much the public face of Hamas. The missiles struck the vehicle in which he was traveling. A number of missiles were fired. Rantissi managed to escape, along with his teenaged son. At least two people were killed in the attack, including a bodyguard for Rantissi.
Well over 20 people were injured. Among them, as I said, Rantissi himself, who was taken to a nearby hospital, and in comments there to the media, he made clear that the attack would not deter him from his end. He says, our holy war will continue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDEL AZIZ RANTISSI, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We are facing murderers, terrorists, occupiers, and I see to do (UNINTELLIGIBLE). No peace with occupation. Occupation contradicts peace. If they want security, the tragedy of Palestinians should be ended.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNA: Well, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas also reacted with fury, describing the operation as a criminal and terrorist act, saying that it sharply undermines efforts to forge a cease fire. Abbas had been involved in cease-fire negotiations with militant groups. Among them, the Hamas organization.
Well, certainly, nobody in a mood to talk in the course of this day. In Gaza City, in late afternoon, widespread demonstrations as Palestinians gathered to protest the strike against the Hamas leader, and also to insist that they would have nothing to do with the U.S.- backed road map.
So little less than a week after the Palestinian prime minister, the Israeli prime minister and George W. Bush met at a summit in Jordan, once again, attempts to impose and implement this U.S.-backed road map were really asunder -- Fredricka..
WHITFIELD: Well, Mike, each side is expressing these acts are in retaliation to two recent attacks. If that's the case, doesn't it seem both sides are also going back on their agreement of a cease- fire, which is the first phase of this road map to peace?
HANNA: Well, once again, it's difficult to find sides here. The violence that has been carried out against Israeli targets was conducted by militant organizations, one of them Hamas. Now the Palestinian prime minister had sharply condemned those attacks. The attack that we have in the course of the day is an attack that was clearly sanctioned by the Israeli government. This admitted by the Israeli Defense Force, which says it was acting in terms of instructions from higher echelons.
But Israel argues that Hamas will not come on board the road map, that Hamas is a danger to the peace process, saying that it will take action against those who threaten the security. This is not the view of the Palestinian leadership, the political leadership, the Palestinian Authority, nor is it the view of the United States, who are insistent that actions such as this carried out by Israel today do not guarantee the security of Israel, and in effect, have the opposite effect -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you very much, Mike Hanna from Jerusalem. Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
