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Israel Fires Missiles at Target in Gaza
Aired September 01, 2003 - 08:33 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As we've been reporting to you, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a target in Gaza. It was unclear exactly what the target is. It's not been identified yet. And Israel has, as you know, killed 10 militants and three bystanders in recent helicopter attacks.
Matthew Chance is on the phone for us in Gaza. Matthew, what can you add to this really sketchy information that we have at this time?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not a great deal, unfortunately, Soledad. But it does appear to be of the same kind of strike that you just mentioned that has left 10 Hamas militants dead at the hands of Israeli forces in the course of the past two weeks or so. But what we know is that Israeli helicopter gunships backed by Israeli warplanes circled the skies over the center of this very, very densely populated area of Gaza City.
The helicopters firing at least three missiles into a car which was traveling down one of the busiest streets in Gaza City. We know from eyewitnesses at the scene and from Palestinian sources that at least one person who was traveling inside that car has been confirmed as dead. We also know that there have been several injuries; the exact figure isn't exactly clear, Soledad. But I can tell you there is great scenes of panic and chaos in that area of Gaza.
I'm sort of overlooking it now. There's a plume of black smoke hanging in the air over it. The firefighters and rescue workers have been dispatched from the -- to the scene. Also, an angry crowd has rapidly formed around the area, demanding revenge from all the armed militant factions against the Israelis for this attack. It's also just finally -- just been confirmed to us within the last few seconds that this was, indeed, the person who was killed, a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, bringing to 11 as the number of Hamas militants killed in the past 12 days -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. We're seeing some videotape there from an Israeli helicopter gunship firing a missile or missiles at a target in Gaza just a little while ago. Matthew Chance joining us by phone with an update from there.
Of course we're going to continue to follow this throughout the morning. Matthew, 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 September 1, 2003 - 08:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: As we've been reporting to you, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a target in Gaza. It was unclear exactly what the target is. It's not been identified yet. And Israel has, as you know, killed 10 militants and three bystanders in recent helicopter attacks.
Matthew Chance is on the phone for us in Gaza. Matthew, what can you add to this really sketchy information that we have at this time?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, not a great deal, unfortunately, Soledad. But it does appear to be of the same kind of strike that you just mentioned that has left 10 Hamas militants dead at the hands of Israeli forces in the course of the past two weeks or so. But what we know is that Israeli helicopter gunships backed by Israeli warplanes circled the skies over the center of this very, very densely populated area of Gaza City.
The helicopters firing at least three missiles into a car which was traveling down one of the busiest streets in Gaza City. We know from eyewitnesses at the scene and from Palestinian sources that at least one person who was traveling inside that car has been confirmed as dead. We also know that there have been several injuries; the exact figure isn't exactly clear, Soledad. But I can tell you there is great scenes of panic and chaos in that area of Gaza.
I'm sort of overlooking it now. There's a plume of black smoke hanging in the air over it. The firefighters and rescue workers have been dispatched from the -- to the scene. Also, an angry crowd has rapidly formed around the area, demanding revenge from all the armed militant factions against the Israelis for this attack. It's also just finally -- just been confirmed to us within the last few seconds that this was, indeed, the person who was killed, a member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, bringing to 11 as the number of Hamas militants killed in the past 12 days -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right. We're seeing some videotape there from an Israeli helicopter gunship firing a missile or missiles at a target in Gaza just a little while ago. Matthew Chance joining us by phone with an update from there.
Of course we're going to continue to follow this throughout the morning. Matthew, 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
