WEST BANK: ISRAELI SOLDIERS BATTLE PALESTINIAN GUNMEN HOLED UP INSIDE BETHLEHEM MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Record ID: 377145

  • Title: WEST BANK: ISRAELI SOLDIERS BATTLE PALESTINIAN GUNMEN HOLED UP INSIDE BETHLEHEM MENTAL HOSPITAL.
  • Date: 1st April 2004
  • Summary: (W3) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (APRIL 1, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. GV: ISRAELI ARMY JEEPS AND TANKS ENTERING BETHLEHEM 0.03 2. GV: VARIOUS OF JEEPS SURROUNDING A MENTAL HOSPITAL WHERE THE ARMY BELIEVE WANTED MILITANTS ARE HIDING 0.07 3. GV: SOLDIERS AROUND MENTAL HOSPITAL (2 SHOTS) 0.21 4. LV: ARMY HELICOPTER GUNSHIP FLYING OVERHEAD 0.28
  • Embargoed: 16th April 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YYNXF7VNYTFYXMAF4O2SFYSC
  • Story Text: Israelis fought against gunmen on Thursday who
    were holed up inside a mental hospital in Bethlehem.



    Israeli soldiers fought with Palestinian gunmen
    holed up in a mental hospital on Thursday (April 1) in a
    flareup of violence, as U.S. envoys began a visit to sound
    out Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on a Gaza withdrawal plan.

    Palestinian witnesses said 12 men, mostly known
    militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades that make up part
    of President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, were detained
    during the raid in Bethlehem. The army said there were no
    casualties.

    Israeli fire directed at the gunmen in the hospital's
    administrative wing left gaping holes in walls and chunks
    of plaster littering the corridors.

    "All the administrative offices have been destroyed,
    the office of the director and the office of the
    administration and the accommodation for the staff were
    destroyed. There is complete destruction," said hospital
    administrative director, Adel Issa.

    Nurses comforted shaken patients after the firing
    stopped and the wanted Palestinians came outside and
    surrendered.

    The Israeli army officer said the gunmen "got out alive
    because we were careful to limit our response, given the
    risk of hitting innocent people in the hospital".

    Israel has frequently struck against a 3 1/2-year-old
    Palestinian uprising, but now Sharon wants U.S. endorsement
    for his plan to remove Israeli forces and settlers from
    most of the Gaza Strip and some of the West Bank.



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