Connect with us

Headline

Israel Disregards ICJ Orders, Bombs Gaza, Rafah

Published

on

Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, despite an order from the UN’s top court for it to “immediately halt” its military offensive in the southern city.

At the same time, renewed efforts are getting underway in Paris aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.

In a case brought by South Africa alleging the Israeli military operation amounts to “genocide”, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive and demanded the immediate release of hostages still held by Palestinian militants.

Advertisement

The Hague-based ICJ, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also instructed Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which Israel closed before sending troops and tanks into the besieged city and crossing earlier this month.

Israel gave no indication it was preparing to change course in Rafah, insisting the court had got it wrong.

“Israel has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman.

READ ALSO: Germany Threatens To Arrest Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu If…

Advertisement

Hamas, the Iran-backed Islamist group that has ruled Gaza since 2007, welcomed the ICJ ruling on Rafah but criticised its decision to exclude the rest of the Palestinian territory from the order.

‘Nothing left here’

In spite of the ICJ ruling, Israel carried out strikes on the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning as fighting raged between the army and Hamas’s armed wing.

Palestinian witnesses and AFP teams reported Israeli strikes in Rafah and the central city of Deir al-Balah.

Advertisement

“We hope that the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel to end this war of extermination because there is nothing left here,” said Oum Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City displaced to Deir al-Balah by the war.

Mohammed Saleh, also interviewed by AFP in the central Gazan city, said, “Israel is a state that considers itself above the law. Therefore, I do not believe that the shooting or the war will stop other than by force.”

In its ruling, the ICJ said Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

READ ALSO: UK Slams Fresh Sanctions On Iran After Israel Attack

Advertisement

It ordered Israel to allow UN-mandated investigators “unimpeded access” to Gaza to look into the genocide allegations.

It instructed Israel to open the Rafah crossing for the “unhindered provision at scale” of humanitarian aid and also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Advertisement

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,857 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to data from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

The Israeli military said on Friday the bodies of three hostages — the Israeli Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French-Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux — were recovered in Gaza’s north.

READ ALSO: Israel Bombs Gaza, Fights Hamas Around Hospitals

Paris meetings

Advertisement

Israel has come under mounting international pressure over its Gaza offensive.

The ICJ ruling came days after Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would formally recognise a Palestinian state next week and the International Criminal Court prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Hamas leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On the diplomatic front, efforts have resumed to seek the first ceasefire in Gaza since a week-long truce in November that saw more than 100 hostages released in exchange for 240 Palestinian hostages held in Israeli jails.

CIA chief Bill Burns was expected to meet Israeli representatives in Paris in a bid to relaunch negotiations, a Western source close to the issue said.

Advertisement

Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron received the prime minister of Qatar and the Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers on Friday “to press for a ceasefire”, according to Cairo.

The French presidency said they held talks on the Gaza war and ways to set up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken also spoke with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about new efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reopen the Rafah border crossing, Washington said.

READ ALSO: Israeli Leaders Disagree Over Post-war Gaza Governance Amid US Pressure

Advertisement

Ceasefire talks involving US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators ended shortly after Israel launched the Rafah operation, though Netanyahu’s office this week said the war cabinet had asked the Israeli delegation “to continue negotiations for the return of the hostages”.

‘End this nightmare’

Israeli ground troops started moving into Rafah in early May, defying global opposition. It has since ordered mass evacuations from Rafah, with the UN saying more than 800,000 people have fled.

Troops took over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, further slowing sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people.

Advertisement

The US military has also installed a temporary jetty on the Gaza coast to receive aid by sea that a UN spokesman said had delivered 97 trucks of aid after “a rocky start” a week ago.

The security and humanitarian situation in the territory remains alarming, with a risk of famine and most hospitals no longer functioning.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on social media site X on Friday that the situation had reached “a moment of clarity”.

At a time when the people of Gaza are staring down famine… it is more critical than ever to heed the calls made over the last seven months: Release the hostages. Agree a ceasefire. End this nightmare.”

Advertisement

AFP

 

Advertisement

Headline

Five Killed During Kenya Anti-tax Protests

Published

on

By

Five people were shot dead and dozens wounded in Kenya on Tuesday in mounting anti-tax hike protests, NGOs said, after police clashed with demonstrators who stormed the parliament compound in Nairobi.

The military has been deployed to support police, who earlier fired tear gas, water cannon, rubber bullets and — according to a rights group — live ammunition against protesters, as tensions sharply escalated in protests that have caught the government off guard.

Despite the assurance by the government that the right to assembly would be protected and facilitated, today’s protests have spiraled into violence,” several NGOs, including Amnesty Kenya, said a joint statement that reported the dead and wounded.

Advertisement

The White House appealed for calm and more than 10 Western nations — including Canada, Germany and Britain — said they were “especially shocked by the scenes witnessed outside the Kenyan Parliament”.

Mainly youth-led rallies have galvanised outrage over proposed tax hikes and simmering anger over a cost-of-living crisis to fuel rapidly growing demonstrations.

“This is the voice of the young people of Kenya,” said Elizabeth Nyaberi, 26, a lawyer at a protest. “They are tear gassing us, but we don’t care.”

We are here to speak for our generations and the generations to come,” she added.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: Kenyan Policeman Shoots Judge In Court For Revoking Wife’s Bail

The protests had been largely peaceful but chaos erupted in the capital Tuesday, with crowds throwing stones at police, pushing past barricades and ultimately entering the grounds of Kenya’s parliament.

Amid the clashes, global web monitor NetBlocks reported that a “major disruption” had hit the country’s internet service.

– ‘Unleashed brute force’ –

Advertisement

In the aftermath of the parliament compound breach, local TV showed images of ransacked rooms with smashed windows, while cars parked outside were vandalised and flags destroyed, according to an AFP reporter.

The governor’s office in Nairobi City Hall — just a few hundred metres from parliament — was set alight, footage on privately owned Citizen TV showed, with a water cannon attempting to douse the fire.

After reports that live ammunition was fired at protesters, Kenya’s main opposition coalition, Azimio, said the government had “unleashed brute force on our country’s children”.

“Kenya cannot afford to kill its children just because the children are asking for food, jobs and a listening ear,” it said in a statement.

Advertisement

The military’s deployment was “in response to the security emergency” across Kenya, Defence Minister Aden Bare Duale said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Ruto Ready For ‘Conversation’ With Youth Protesters, Says Kenya’s Presidency

Earlier in the day, despite the heavy police presence, thousands of protesters had marched peacefully through Nairobi’s business district, pushing back against barricades as they headed towards parliament.

As protesters gained ground in their push towards parliament, many were livestreaming the action as they sang and beat drums.

Advertisement

Crowds also marched in the port city of Mombasa, the opposition bastion of Kisumu, and Kenyan President William Ruto’s stronghold of Eldoret, images on Kenyan TV channels showed.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority watchdog and rights groups said two people had died following last week’s rallies in Nairobi.

Several organisations, including Amnesty International Kenya, said at least 200 people were wounded in last week’s protests in Nairobi.

Amnesty’s Kenya chapter posted on X Tuesday that “the pattern of policing protests is deteriorating fast”, urging the government to respect demonstrators’ right to assembly.

Advertisement

Rights watchdogs have also accused the authorities of abducting protesters.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission said the abductions had mostly occurred at night and were “conducted by police officers in civilian clothes and unmarked cars”, calling for the “unconditional release of all abductees”.

Police have not responded to AFP requests for comment on the allegations.

READ ALSO: One Dead, 200 Injured In Kenya Tax Protests

Advertisement

Fuel price hikes –

The cash-strapped government agreed last week to roll back several tax increases.

But it still intends to raise other taxes, saying they are necessary for filling the state coffers and cutting reliance on external borrowing.

Kenya has a huge debt mountain whose servicing costs have ballooned because of a fall in the value of the local currency over the last two years, making interest payments on foreign-currency loans more expensive.

Advertisement

The tax hikes will pile further pressure on Kenyans, with well-paid jobs remaining out of reach for many young people.

After the government agreed to scrap levies on bread purchases, car ownership and financial and mobile services, the treasury warned of a budget shortfall of 200 billion shillings ($1.56 billion).

The government now intends to target an increase in fuel prices and export taxes to fill the void left by the changes, a move critics say will make life more expensive in a country already saddled with high inflation.

Kenya has one of the most dynamic economies in East Africa but a third of its 52 million people live in poverty.

Advertisement

AFP

Continue Reading

Headline

ASUU, Not Trouble Makers, Says Chairman

Published

on

By

Cross session of Education stakeholders

Dr Ibrahim Inuwa, the Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi state chapter, on Tuesday, said the union was not a trouble making one.

Inuwa, who stated this during a three-day Town Hall meeting for education stakeholders to sensitize them on the plights of its members, said sometimes, harsh decisions needed to be taken to enhance the education system of the country.

He explained that the meeting was to also call the attention of education stakeholders in Nigeria on what has been happening between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the government.

Advertisement

According to him, the meeting would also be used as an avenue to get feedback from the stakeholders as well as advice on how to go about the union’s struggle.

READ ALSO: Again, Clark Writes Tinubu, Demands Nnamdi Kanu’s Release

“The meeting is basically for us to rob minds with these stakeholders and to drive the misconception most stakeholders have about ASUU that we are trouble makers and that we don’t want peace.

“We had to call their attention that education is a business of everybody and that has been reflected in the spirit of our constitution.

Advertisement

“So, it’s an obligation of the government to provide education. It’s a right because the constitution of this country defines our sovereignty and that is where the politicians derive their power to rule us.

“What they are calling us to be troublemakers, we are not but if we have to get it right in this country, education must be given priority.

READ ALSO: Four To Die By Hanging For Armed Robbery, Murder In Ekiti

“We took them through our various troubles, the challenges we have been having, the nonchalant attitude of the government as well as other emerging issues that are coming up and this is where the trouble making issues came up.

Advertisement

“Most times we go for industrial action, people are quick to say that we should explore other avenues of negotiation and for more than one year, we have been trying to do that with this new regime.

“Before they came on board, they met with the union and they expressed concerns that they wanted to address this issue.

“Unfortunately, till now, there have been no meaningful commitments from the government to address this issue and it’s making the challenges in the Universities to be biting day by day,” he said.

The ASUU boss further said at the end of townhall meetings across the zones, ASUU National Executive Council would meet to harness all the views and opinions to enable it take a definite and lasting solution to the lingering crisis in the tertiary education sector.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Headline

Fake Diabetes, Weight Loss Drugs Pose Health Risks, WHO Warns

Published

on

By

The World Health Organisation, WHO, has issued a medical product alert on falsified semaglutides, the type of medicines that are used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity in some countries.

The alert addresses 3 falsified batches of products of the semaglutide class of medicines (of specific brand Ozempic), which have been detected in Brazil in October 2023, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in October 2023, and the United States of America in December 2023.

WHO Global Surveillance and Monitoring System (GSM) has been observing increased reports on falsified semaglutide products in all geographical regions since 2022.

Advertisement

This is the first official notice issued by WHO after confirmation of some of the reports.

READ ALSO: Alcohol Kills 2.6 Million Drinkers Annually, Says WHO

The WHO Assistant Director-General for Essential Medicines and Health Products, Dr Yukiko Nakatani said: “WHO advises healthcare professionals, regulatory authorities and the public to be aware of these falsified batches of medicines. We call on stakeholders to stop any usage of suspicious medicines and report to relevant authorities”.

The semaglutides, including the specific brand product that has been falsified, are prescribed to people with type 2 diabetes to lower their blood sugar levels. Semaglutides also reduce the risk of cardiovascular events.

Advertisement

Most semaglutide products must be injected under the skin every week but they are also available as tablets taken by mouth daily. These medicines are shown to suppress appetite in addition to lowering blood sugar levels and therefore are being increasingly prescribed for weight loss in some countries.

READ ALSO::Wikileaks Founder Assange Released From UK Prison, Appears in US Colony Court Wednesday

WHO has been observing increased demand for these medicines as well as reports on falsification. These falsified products could have harmful effects on people’s health; if the products don’t have the necessary raw components, falsified medicines can lead to health complications resulting from unmanaged blood glucose levels or weight. In other cases, another undeclared active ingredient may be contained in the injection device, e.g. insulin, leading to an unpredictable range of health risks or complications.

Semaglutides are not part of WHO-recommended treatments for diabetes management due to their current high cost. The cost barrier makes these products unsuitable for a public health approach, which aims to ensure the widest possible access to medicines at the population level and to strike a balance between the best-established standard of care and what is feasible on a large scale in resource-limited settings.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: Seven Killed, 11 Injured In Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Crash

Also, there are more affordable treatments available for diabetes, with similar effects to those of semaglutides on blood sugar and cardiovascular risk.

WHO is currently working on a rapid advice guideline on the possible use of GLP-1 RAs, including semaglutides, for the treatment of obesity in adults and as part of a more comprehensive model of care.

To protect themselves from falsified medicines and their harmful effects, patients who are using these products can take actions such as buying medicines with prescriptions from licensed physicians and avoid buying medicines from unfamiliar or unverified sources, such as those that may be found online.

Advertisement

WHO urged people to always check packaging and expiry dates of medicines when they buy them, and use the products as prescribed.

In the case of injectable semaglutides, patients should ensure they are stored in the refrigerator.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version