- Title: UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC: AFTERMATH OF ISRAELI SHELLING OF SUEZ CITY
- Date: 10th July 1968
- Summary: DAMAGED MOSQUE; HOLE IN ROOF; CRATER IN ROAD; POSTER; CINEMA; DAMAGED INTERIOR; DAMAGED SCHOOL; STREETS AND RUBBLE; CROWD WAIT FOR BREAD; BREAD HANDED OUT; GOVERNOR SPEAKS (SOF); NEWSMEN; DAMAGE AT CONVENT HOSPITAL; FIGURE OF CHRIST ON GROUND; DR. HAWAS INTERVIEWED (SOF); WOUNDED MAN IN BED; WOMAN VISITOR; CHILDREN WITH FACE AND HAND BURNS. TRANSCRIPT: MP
- Embargoed: 25th July 1968 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SUEZ CITY, UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC
- Country: Egypt
- Reuters ID: LVA4UR7BYKGS65MRIDOX5IMUC63E
- Story Text: ISRAEL AND THE UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC YESTERDAY (TUESDAY) EACH CLAIMED THAT THE OTHER WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR STARTING SHELLING ACROSS THE SUEZ CANAL. IN SUEZ CITY, THE MAIN TARGET OF ISRAELI SHELLS, 43 PEOPLE WERE KILLED AND OVER 70 WOUNDED.
THE GOVERNOR OF SUEZ CITY, MR HAMID MAHMOUD, SAID TODAY THAT BECAUSE OF SUNDAY'S SHELLING HE WANTED TO EVACUATE ALL BUT 60,000 ESSENTIAL OIL REFINERY AND OTHER WORKERS AND TRADERS NEEDED TO KEEP THE CITY ALIVE.
YESTERDAY, MR MAHMOUD WAS ASKED ABOUT THE CASUALTIES AT A NEWS CONFERENCE. HE SAID...
THE GOVERNOR REPORTED THAT MORE THAN 400 SHELLS HAD LANDED IN THE CITY, DESTROYING OR DAMAGING 150 HOUSES AND LEAVING MOSQUES, A CINEMA, A CATHOLIC CHURCH AND A HOSPITAL IN NEAR RUIN. MANY HOUSES IN THE CITY'S POOR QUARTER WERE SMOKING RUINS YESTERDAY, AND MASONRY LITTERED THE STREETS.
AT AL-ARABAEEN MOSQUE, A JAGGED HOLE WAS TORN OUT OF THE FRONT WALL AND THE 150-YEAR-OLD TOMB OF THE SHEIK WAS DAMAGED. WHITE-ROBED SISTERS WALKED ANKLE-DEEP IN THE DEBRIS OF THEIR CHAPEL AT THE CONVENT OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD WHERE ANOTHER SHELL HAD DESTROYED THE MARBLE ALTAR. ACROSS THE COURTYARD, A BROKEN ROCKING HORSE LAY AMONG THE RUINS OF A NURSERY SCHOOL.
A LARGE SECTION OF THE ROOF OF THE CITY'S ROYAL CINEMA WAS BROUGHT DOWN JUST BEFORE THE START OF THE FIRST PERFORMANCE.
THE WOUNDED WERE BEING CARED FOR AT THE CENTRAL HOSPITAL. SOME HAD LOST LIMBS -- OTHERS WERE INJURED BY SHRAPNEL. TWO LITTLE BOYS, THREE-YEAR-OLD FATEH AHDELSALEM AND HIS COUSIN SAMIYA MAHMOUD, A YEAR OLDER, WERE BEING TREATED FOR SEVERE BURNS TO THEIR FACES AND HANDS.
DR. HAWAS ABDEL HALIM SAID 35 PATIENTS WERE IN THE CONVENT'S HOSPITAL WHEN THE FIRST SHELL STRUCK. HE WAS ASKED WHAT HAPPENED...
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