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CNN Live At Daybreak
Israeli Missiles Hit Car by Refugee Camp
Aired August 27, 2003 - 06:33 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: To update you on the Israelis and the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat is telling Israel, hold your fire, and he'll take action against the militants. Of course, this comes after a suicide bombing and several retaliatory strikes.
Live to Gaza and Michael Holmes.
Yasser Arafat is speaking out, but is anyone listening?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yasser Arafat is saying that reportedly in an interview with the Reuters news agency, saying that Israel -- that the Palestinians would be prepared to take action if Israel backed out of territories -- of Palestinian territories and stop the targeted assassinations on militants. That is not something really very new. Mahmoud Abbas has been saying that for a while, as have others in the Palestinian Authority.
Of course, all of this coming at a time where Israel is really on an all-out fight against Hamas militants, taking on the job that it says the Palestinian Authority has not done. We've had three targeted assassinations here in the last week, one of them a botched one, which occurred yesterday, last evening here. They were after a man that Israel says was a master maker of the Kassam (ph) rockets, which are routinely fired into Israel and into Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Now, he and his accomplice got away, but not so lucky was a 65- year-old Palestinian driving a donkey cart. He was killed, 23 other bystanders were injured. Among them, six children aged from 9 to 14 and a 75-year-old man.
Now, Israel copping a little bit of flack over this, criticism that there is too much of a civilian casualty toll building up here. Over the three missile strikes that have taken place, upwards of 40 people have been injured just standing on the street.
Israel, though, says it does not target civilians. It is apologizing for the loss of civilian life, but it says that it will continue its policy of seeking out militants while the Palestinian Authority does not. Can the Palestinian Authority do it? That's the question.
The cabinet is meeting here in Gaza. Mahmoud Abbas meeting with the ministers here to try to work out the next step, but most observers here feel that he's fairly impotent at the moment. Moving on the militants could lead to a popular uprising -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Michael Holmes bringing us up-to-date from Gaza this morning.
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 August 27, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: To update you on the Israelis and the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat is telling Israel, hold your fire, and he'll take action against the militants. Of course, this comes after a suicide bombing and several retaliatory strikes.
Live to Gaza and Michael Holmes.
Yasser Arafat is speaking out, but is anyone listening?
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yasser Arafat is saying that reportedly in an interview with the Reuters news agency, saying that Israel -- that the Palestinians would be prepared to take action if Israel backed out of territories -- of Palestinian territories and stop the targeted assassinations on militants. That is not something really very new. Mahmoud Abbas has been saying that for a while, as have others in the Palestinian Authority.
Of course, all of this coming at a time where Israel is really on an all-out fight against Hamas militants, taking on the job that it says the Palestinian Authority has not done. We've had three targeted assassinations here in the last week, one of them a botched one, which occurred yesterday, last evening here. They were after a man that Israel says was a master maker of the Kassam (ph) rockets, which are routinely fired into Israel and into Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Now, he and his accomplice got away, but not so lucky was a 65- year-old Palestinian driving a donkey cart. He was killed, 23 other bystanders were injured. Among them, six children aged from 9 to 14 and a 75-year-old man.
Now, Israel copping a little bit of flack over this, criticism that there is too much of a civilian casualty toll building up here. Over the three missile strikes that have taken place, upwards of 40 people have been injured just standing on the street.
Israel, though, says it does not target civilians. It is apologizing for the loss of civilian life, but it says that it will continue its policy of seeking out militants while the Palestinian Authority does not. Can the Palestinian Authority do it? That's the question.
The cabinet is meeting here in Gaza. Mahmoud Abbas meeting with the ministers here to try to work out the next step, but most observers here feel that he's fairly impotent at the moment. Moving on the militants could lead to a popular uprising -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Michael Holmes bringing us up-to-date from Gaza this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
