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American Morning

Israel's Military Offensive Expands Into Two New Towns in West Bank

Aired April 03, 2002 - 07:05   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, as Bill just mentioned, Israel's military offensive expands into two new towns in the West Bank. And in Bethlehem, where the fighting has been very intense, as many as 150 Palestinian men, women and children have taken refuge in the Church of the Nativity.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Bethlehem and called us minutes ago with the very latest.

(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am on the main road of Bethlehem, and there is nobody on the street. This is a ghost town. It's under a 24-hour curfew imposed by the Israeli army.

Earlier, we did hear some shooting from the area of Manger Square, but it is quite now. In the adjacent village of Beit Jala, which was under an Israelis curfew, that curfew has been lifted for several hours to allow people to go out and resupply. However, there aren't that many supplies to be had. We went one bakery, where we were told they were selling three-day old bread.

Now, elsewhere in town, we are told in the old part of this city, the Old City, that that situation is extremely desperate. Hospital sources are telling us that there are dead people in the streets. There are others, who are wounded, but because of the situation, because of the fighting, they are not able -- their ambulances are not able to get to the wounded or take away the dead.

Now, earlier today on the northern edge of the city, a delegation of Christian leaders, the representatives of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Catholic (ph) Church went and tried to enter Bethlehem, but they were stopped from going in by Israeli forces. The Israelis saying that the situation is too dangerous, that it is a closed military area.

The delegation had gone there to try to defuse the situation at Manger Square at the Church of the Nativity, where it is believed as many as 200 people are holed up in that church, some of them are Palestinian gunmen, some may be on Israel's wanted list. But the Israelis said that there was no way they would let these Christian leaders intercede and defuse the situation there.

I am Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Bethlehem.

(END AUDIOTAPE)

ZAHN: Ben Wedeman reporting from a very dangerous place, one of the few reporters in the world on the ground in Bethlehem.

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