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Bethlehem - Another
terrible night March 13 2002 |
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Another terrible night at the Order of Malta’s
Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, Palestine, which was also hit last
October 25. An eye-witness account: Towards 1:00 a.m. on 13 March, Israeli tanks stopped at the Beit Jala crossroads, about 50 meters from the main entrance, and opened heavy artillery fire towards the hospital aiming high, towards the centre of the city, they struck the nuns’ residence on the second floor, damaging two rooms, one of which was used by our lab technician who, thank God, had just left the room to run some urgent lab tests. The other room was empty. Hundreds of rounds were fired, tens of which hit the statue of the Virgin Mary atop the chapel, completely destroying it. Several windows in the Caritas residence were shattered, and rounds hit the flagpole, which was flying the French flag. |
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A remote-controlled
missile was also fired towards the hospital; it hit the walls of the
chapel just under the statue. Fragments of the statue and walls fell
into the garden; one hit the fire alarm, setting it off and increasing
the panic inside the hospital. |
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