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CNN Live Sunday
Violent Blast Rips Through Tel-Aviv
Aired January 05, 2003 - 18:11 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We are awaiting details about damage and injuries in Gaza after Israeli helicopters fired rockets at Palestinian targets. The strikes happened after a suicide blast farther north in Tel Aviv today. Witnesses say the missiles hit somewhere in the middle of Gaza City. More than one million Palestinians, of course, live in that area. We will bring you more information as it becomes available.
As I mentioned, a violent blast ripped through the seaside city of Tel Aviv about 50 miles north of Gaza. The blast turned a crowded pedestrian mall into what looked like a battle zone. CNN's Kelly Wallace is in Tel Aviv with the latest on the attacks -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened an emergency cabinet meeting with his top advisers and the message coming out of that meeting, according to Sharon spokesmen, is that Israel plans to keep up the pressure on Palestinians.
Sharon spokesmen saying the goal of Israeli operations will be to continue to crack down on those groups Israel believes are responsible for terrorism, and Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin telling us that this Gaza operation is part of this continued fight by Israeli forces against terror groups.
Now the scene here is very quiet really. All that you can see is this candlelight vigil behind me. This is something that has really become all too common in this country after suicide bombings, prayers for the injured and mourning for the dead. The death toll as climbed since we were last with you. Now, 23 dead and Israeli officials do believe that death toll can go even higher, this becoming one of the worst suicide bombings in this intifidah that is more than two years old.
This was the scene earlier. Witnesses describe it as horrific. Some people we talked to said it was so horrible they simply could not put it into words. Witnesses said that the explosions came just about a half minute apart the apparent suicide bombers at different sections of this crowded pedestrian mall really shattering a very quiet evening here.
Many of the people on the mall or people who live around this neighborhood are laborers from other countries and Israeli officials say many of those who were injured did not go to the hospital fearing they could be deported because they don't have the proper visas to be inside the country, so the Israeli government is trying to get the word out to anyone who is injured to go seek medical help.
Now, the Israeli government has condemned the attacks and is placing the blame on the Palestinian Authority saying Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has not done enough to crack down on terror. The Palestinian Authority for its part is condemning the blast and calling for an end to all attacks against Israeli civilians.
There have been competing and conflicting claims of responsibility throughout the evening, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad and also the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. That is the armed offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Both groups claiming responsibility earlier in the evening but both groups have since retracted those claims, so an ongoing story, who can be responsible?
We do know that Prime Minister Sharon plans to meet with the wounded in an around Tel Aviv on Monday, the Israeli government again vowing to keep up the pressure on those responsible for terror -- Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Kelly, as you mentioned obviously you've been tracking the story all day. About an hour or so ago we were talking about Sharon meeting in an emergency session of the cabinet. We now hear reports of helicopter attacks in Gaza. Are they related? Do we know at this point?
WALLACE: We do. According to Sharon spokesmen they are related, that the operation in Gaza, we understand at least nine rockets fired by Israeli Apache helicopters into a metal works factory that Israeli officials say is producing weapons. According to Israeli officials, this is part of what Israeli officials say will continue. They are going to continue, they say, to keep up the pressure on groups, areas, that they believe are responsible for terror.
You know, Anderson, it has been relatively quiet in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for more than a month now but Israeli officials say they have been dealing with more than 40 terror alerts each and every day so they are saying they're going to keep up the pressure and more is to come after what we saw tonight -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, Kelly, it's also remarkable when you look at the scene behind you comparing it to the way it was earlier today. How quickly they clean up these sorts of, you know, these scenes.
WALLACE: It is pretty incredible and it becomes an all too familiar scene as well that after, moments after these horrific attacks you have Israeli officials working very quickly to clean up the debris, the destruction, looking around and collecting those who are injured and those who have been killed. Part of it is religious, collecting those bodies and making sure they get a proper burial.
Part of it is also sort of an Israeli psychology of moving forward, moving on, trying to establish a sense of normalcy here behind me. It would be hard to believe that just a few hours earlier there was a scene of destruction here there were two apparent suicide bombings. Now it's very quiet just people walking through the pedestrian mall wondering what happened hours earlier -- Anderson. COOPER: All right, Kelly Wallace thanks very much.
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 January 5, 2003 - 18:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We are awaiting details about damage and injuries in Gaza after Israeli helicopters fired rockets at Palestinian targets. The strikes happened after a suicide blast farther north in Tel Aviv today. Witnesses say the missiles hit somewhere in the middle of Gaza City. More than one million Palestinians, of course, live in that area. We will bring you more information as it becomes available.
As I mentioned, a violent blast ripped through the seaside city of Tel Aviv about 50 miles north of Gaza. The blast turned a crowded pedestrian mall into what looked like a battle zone. CNN's Kelly Wallace is in Tel Aviv with the latest on the attacks -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened an emergency cabinet meeting with his top advisers and the message coming out of that meeting, according to Sharon spokesmen, is that Israel plans to keep up the pressure on Palestinians.
Sharon spokesmen saying the goal of Israeli operations will be to continue to crack down on those groups Israel believes are responsible for terrorism, and Sharon spokesman Ra'anan Gissin telling us that this Gaza operation is part of this continued fight by Israeli forces against terror groups.
Now the scene here is very quiet really. All that you can see is this candlelight vigil behind me. This is something that has really become all too common in this country after suicide bombings, prayers for the injured and mourning for the dead. The death toll as climbed since we were last with you. Now, 23 dead and Israeli officials do believe that death toll can go even higher, this becoming one of the worst suicide bombings in this intifidah that is more than two years old.
This was the scene earlier. Witnesses describe it as horrific. Some people we talked to said it was so horrible they simply could not put it into words. Witnesses said that the explosions came just about a half minute apart the apparent suicide bombers at different sections of this crowded pedestrian mall really shattering a very quiet evening here.
Many of the people on the mall or people who live around this neighborhood are laborers from other countries and Israeli officials say many of those who were injured did not go to the hospital fearing they could be deported because they don't have the proper visas to be inside the country, so the Israeli government is trying to get the word out to anyone who is injured to go seek medical help.
Now, the Israeli government has condemned the attacks and is placing the blame on the Palestinian Authority saying Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority has not done enough to crack down on terror. The Palestinian Authority for its part is condemning the blast and calling for an end to all attacks against Israeli civilians.
There have been competing and conflicting claims of responsibility throughout the evening, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad and also the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. That is the armed offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement. Both groups claiming responsibility earlier in the evening but both groups have since retracted those claims, so an ongoing story, who can be responsible?
We do know that Prime Minister Sharon plans to meet with the wounded in an around Tel Aviv on Monday, the Israeli government again vowing to keep up the pressure on those responsible for terror -- Anderson, back to you.
COOPER: Kelly, as you mentioned obviously you've been tracking the story all day. About an hour or so ago we were talking about Sharon meeting in an emergency session of the cabinet. We now hear reports of helicopter attacks in Gaza. Are they related? Do we know at this point?
WALLACE: We do. According to Sharon spokesmen they are related, that the operation in Gaza, we understand at least nine rockets fired by Israeli Apache helicopters into a metal works factory that Israeli officials say is producing weapons. According to Israeli officials, this is part of what Israeli officials say will continue. They are going to continue, they say, to keep up the pressure on groups, areas, that they believe are responsible for terror.
You know, Anderson, it has been relatively quiet in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for more than a month now but Israeli officials say they have been dealing with more than 40 terror alerts each and every day so they are saying they're going to keep up the pressure and more is to come after what we saw tonight -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, Kelly, it's also remarkable when you look at the scene behind you comparing it to the way it was earlier today. How quickly they clean up these sorts of, you know, these scenes.
WALLACE: It is pretty incredible and it becomes an all too familiar scene as well that after, moments after these horrific attacks you have Israeli officials working very quickly to clean up the debris, the destruction, looking around and collecting those who are injured and those who have been killed. Part of it is religious, collecting those bodies and making sure they get a proper burial.
Part of it is also sort of an Israeli psychology of moving forward, moving on, trying to establish a sense of normalcy here behind me. It would be hard to believe that just a few hours earlier there was a scene of destruction here there were two apparent suicide bombings. Now it's very quiet just people walking through the pedestrian mall wondering what happened hours earlier -- Anderson. COOPER: All right, Kelly Wallace thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
