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Third Straight Day of Air Attacks Rock Gaza
Aired June 12, 2003 - 14:03 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in the chaos and devastation of Gaza. Today, Israeli missile strikes hit neighborhoods teaming with mourners for victims of similar attacks hours and days earlier.
CNN's Matthew Chance is live now from Jerusalem with the very latest. Good afternoon to you there, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Heidi. Heidi, thank you.
And the violence that has become so tragically routine in this part of the world is intensifying again. At least six Palestinians killed in another strike by Israeli helicopter gunships on another car traveling through the very busy streets of Gaza City. It's the third such attack by the Israelis in 24 hours.
One of the dead in that latest attack has been identified as Yasser Taha, a senior figure in the military wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. But his wife and his young child were also believed to be among the dead, as well.
Hamas, as you may expect, has vowed to take revenge on every Israeli.
Mahmoud Al-Zahar is the spokesman for the militant group.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD Al-ZAHAR, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We have to run an effective army to struggle against everybody.
Now this message should be sent for every Israeli. Your children and your women, your husbands -- everybody is a target now. We have to react.
And if they are willing to stop this activity, they should ask Sharon to stop this crime and to withdraw from our land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: The recent days have also, of course, seen Palestinian militant violence take the lives of innocent Israelis, as well. On Hamas -- on Wednesday, rather, Hamas, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives on a crowded Jerusalem bus, killing at least 17 people, now, the death toll from that explosion, injuring many others as well.
Israeli government officials saying they're cracking down on Hamas to stop these kinds of attacks, not to provoke them, in Gaza or anywhere else.
Ra'anan Gissin is the adviser to the Israeli prime minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RA'ANAN GISSIN, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: We are not happy of taking action in Gaza. But there is a necessity to stop terrorism. Otherwise, it is going to become a major terrorist wave that is going to involve the whole region, and stop the roadmap to peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: And, Heidi, what will become of that roadmap is a big question now. No one has yet abandoned it. No one's pronounced it dead. But it will be a struggle to survive this sustained period of renewed violence.
Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: And, Matthew, that was exactly the question I was going to ask you. More about the people there, obviously going through an incredible amount of shock and disappointment as to what has happened with these attacks.
What are you hearing from them? Is there any sense of hope?
CHANCE: Not much at all. It's certainly, obviously, not a good thing that these attacks have taken place. In fact, it's a tragic thing -- a tragic thing for ordinary Palestinians and for ordinary Israelis, as well.
After so many months of violence and bloodshed on both sides, both communities in this conflict, it's clear that many Palestinians and many Israelis, as well, want some kind of peaceful resolution to this. The events of recent days will be dashing many, many hopes around the region, Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew Chance live from Jerusalem today. Thank you so much, Matthew.
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 12, 2003 - 14:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour in the chaos and devastation of Gaza. Today, Israeli missile strikes hit neighborhoods teaming with mourners for victims of similar attacks hours and days earlier.
CNN's Matthew Chance is live now from Jerusalem with the very latest. Good afternoon to you there, Matthew.
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Heidi. Heidi, thank you.
And the violence that has become so tragically routine in this part of the world is intensifying again. At least six Palestinians killed in another strike by Israeli helicopter gunships on another car traveling through the very busy streets of Gaza City. It's the third such attack by the Israelis in 24 hours.
One of the dead in that latest attack has been identified as Yasser Taha, a senior figure in the military wing of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. But his wife and his young child were also believed to be among the dead, as well.
Hamas, as you may expect, has vowed to take revenge on every Israeli.
Mahmoud Al-Zahar is the spokesman for the militant group.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD Al-ZAHAR, HAMAS SPOKESMAN: We have to run an effective army to struggle against everybody.
Now this message should be sent for every Israeli. Your children and your women, your husbands -- everybody is a target now. We have to react.
And if they are willing to stop this activity, they should ask Sharon to stop this crime and to withdraw from our land.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: The recent days have also, of course, seen Palestinian militant violence take the lives of innocent Israelis, as well. On Hamas -- on Wednesday, rather, Hamas, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives on a crowded Jerusalem bus, killing at least 17 people, now, the death toll from that explosion, injuring many others as well.
Israeli government officials saying they're cracking down on Hamas to stop these kinds of attacks, not to provoke them, in Gaza or anywhere else.
Ra'anan Gissin is the adviser to the Israeli prime minister.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RA'ANAN GISSIN, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: We are not happy of taking action in Gaza. But there is a necessity to stop terrorism. Otherwise, it is going to become a major terrorist wave that is going to involve the whole region, and stop the roadmap to peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHANCE: And, Heidi, what will become of that roadmap is a big question now. No one has yet abandoned it. No one's pronounced it dead. But it will be a struggle to survive this sustained period of renewed violence.
Heidi, back to you.
COLLINS: And, Matthew, that was exactly the question I was going to ask you. More about the people there, obviously going through an incredible amount of shock and disappointment as to what has happened with these attacks.
What are you hearing from them? Is there any sense of hope?
CHANCE: Not much at all. It's certainly, obviously, not a good thing that these attacks have taken place. In fact, it's a tragic thing -- a tragic thing for ordinary Palestinians and for ordinary Israelis, as well.
After so many months of violence and bloodshed on both sides, both communities in this conflict, it's clear that many Palestinians and many Israelis, as well, want some kind of peaceful resolution to this. The events of recent days will be dashing many, many hopes around the region, Heidi.
COLLINS: Matthew Chance live from Jerusalem today. Thank you so much, Matthew.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
