GAZA/WEST BANK: ISRAEL HAS TRIES TO ASSASSINATE A LEADER OF PALESTINIAN MILITANT GROUP HAMAS WOUNDING ABDEL AZIZ AL-RANTISSI IN A HELICOPTER ATTACK

Record ID: 645847

  • Title: GAZA/WEST BANK: ISRAEL HAS TRIES TO ASSASSINATE A LEADER OF PALESTINIAN MILITANT GROUP HAMAS WOUNDING ABDEL AZIZ AL-RANTISSI IN A HELICOPTER ATTACK
  • Date: 10th June 2003
  • Summary: SV CROWD LIFTING BODY OF WOMAN KILLED IN ATTACK, LYING IN POOL OF BLOOD ON PAVEMENT SV CROWD CARRYING VICTIM TO AMBULANCE
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA /RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVAENGM2CWO55LXAJ4ZJSWQGAMF8
  • Story Text: Israel has tried to assassinate a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, wounding Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a helicopter attack that could spur new violence and shatter the U.S.-backed peace plan.
    Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the strike as a "terrorist attack" intended to sabotage the peace process.
    Israel tried to kill the public face of Hamas on Tuesday (June 10), wounding Palestinian militant Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in a helicopter strike that brought swift calls for revenge and may shatter a U.S.-backed peace plan.
    Two helicopter gunships fired seven missiles that set Rantissi's car ablaze in Gaza City, killing two people and wounding about 20. Rantissi leapt clear just in time and later vowed from his hospital bed to continue attacks on Israel.
    A witness said the helicopters fired two missiles in his direction even after he got our of the car, but missed him. He was wounded in his left arm, left leg and chest.
    There was no official comment from Israel on Tuesday's missile attack, which also wounded Rantissi's teenage son.
    Doctors and Hamas sources described Rantissi's condition as "good".
    However, Israeli security sources confirmed he had been the target.
    Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas condemned what he described as "the criminal and terrorist Israeli attack".
    Though Hamas had defied Abbas's plea for it to stop killing Israelis, Abbas said such Israeli actions "sabotage" the peace process.
    "First of all, we consider this (assassination) attempt as an awful crime and a terrorist operation in the full sense of the word because it targets innocent people, two people were martyred and more than 27 people were injured. Dr.al-Rantissi and his son were injured. This operation is an episode in a series of operations which the Israeli government has undertaken since the start of our government. Such attacks obstruct and sabotage all efforts of the peace process and end efforts in trying to implement the Road map," Abbas told Palestinian TV.
    Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin visited the victims in hospital. Speaking from his wheelchair, he said:
    "We got the message and Israel must wait for the response.

    (Answering question about chance for talks). We have already declared our position that there is no dialogue and we've stopped all dialogue."
    Rantissi, 55, is a senior political aide to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and has taken on the informal role of spokesman for the Islamic group, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel and opposes the peace "road map".
    He has claimed centre stage over the past week in rejecting calls by Abbas to cease attacks on Israelis under the peace proposal that envisions creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
    Israeli security sources said Rantissi tried to recruit Israeli Arabs into Hamas. "Israel will continue to fight terror...because the Palestinian Authority isn't doing it,"
    one senior source said.
    Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Sunday (9 June) in Gaza in a rare joint attack by Hamas and two other Palestinian groups. All three gunmen were also killed. Israelis also shot dead two gunmen who killed a soldier in the West Bank later on Sunday.
    Today's assasination attempt was launched a day after Israel took first steps to implement the road map agreement by tearing down 10 out of an estimated 60 illegal Jewish settler outposts in the West Bank.
    The peace plan also calls on the Palestinian Authority to disarm and dismantle militant groups spearheading the 32-month-old uprising for statehood.
    Abbas, who shook hands on the road map at a landmark June 4 summit in Aqaba, Jordan, with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Bush, has sought a dialogue with Hamas, hoping to seal a truce and avoid a Palestinian civil war.
    But Hamas broke off ceasefire talks after the summit, accusing Abbas of making too many concessions to Sharon.
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