Israeli Strike Kills Hamas Militant
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to take you live to the Middle East right now. Apparently an Israeli helicopter fired three missiles at a car on the ground in Gaza City. Our Kelly Wallace witnessed it. She joins us live now to tell us more about it. Kelly, what happened?</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we were actually in the Gaza Strip doing a story on the radical Palestinian group Hamas and how the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas wants to try and rein in the group, when we heard an explosion and looked up in the air and actually saw two Israeli Apache helicopters. And as you said, sources are saying that those choppers fired at least three missiles, killing one man. He is described as a leader of the military wing of Hamas. His name is Eod Arabeck (ph). Sources are saying that no one was injured. When we came to the scene, you could see dozens of people in the street angrily chanting, voicing support for Hamas and holding up pieces of this car. This attack happened as the individual was driving in his car on a street in a residential neighborhood at the Gaza Strip. Now this is not the first time we have seen such missile strikes from Israeli Apache helicopters. Last month, there was a strike killing a leader of Islamic Jihad. And then it was early in March when there was a strike which killed a leader and co-founder of Hamas, a man by the name of Ibrahim al-Makadma. Carol, this time though, the backdrop here, this comes just two days before Secretary of State Colin Powell makes his way to the region, to Israel and the West Bank, for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and with the new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. And this incident likely to make what was already a very difficult task even more difficult and that is Mahmoud Abbas' call to disarm Hamas and the other Palestinian organizations -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Understand. Kelly Wallace, we'll let you get back to work. Thanks for that report live from Gaza City this morning. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM AT www.fdch.com