Four killed as Palestinians storm UN warehouse in desperate scramble for food
Wafaa Shurafa, Samy Magdy and Jamey Keaten
©Press Association
Hundreds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations food warehouse in Gaza in a desperate attempt to get something to eat, shouting and shoving each other and even ripping off pieces of the building to get inside.
Four people died in the chaos, hospital officials said.
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She revealed that she can't go to Iraq to bring him home for "urgent medical care" because their "kids are too scared of me going out to get him in case I would get jailed too". Desree said her husband is "unrecognisable" to her, four years after she last saw him. She hopes that the move to get him home will start as soon as the Islamic holiday of Eid ends. The religious period, which is often used by countries in the Middle East to release prisoners, started yesterday and ends on Tuesday, June 10. The UAE released 963 as part of Eid and Afghanistan released 1,500, according to international figures. Desree told the Irish Mirror: "It was a really brief call when he rang to say he was out. It was the first time that we had seen him in the flesh in four years. "We were in shock because he has deteriorated so much. He is unrecognisable. "He is really scrawny and skinny and looks so unwell. It was a huge shock for the kids to see him like that. "We knew that he had been sick for the last four months, but to actually see the toll that all of this has taken on his body was shocking. "It reinforced for us how much we have to fight to get rid of this travel ban and get him home after Eid finishes. "He needs to get home for urgent medical treatment. We are talking to him and trying to keep up his spirits and keep him company while we try to get him home. "It is a huge relief that we have taken a step in the right direction, but he is not here yet. I can't go to him. "The children are just not comfortable with me flying over. They have already lost one parent and they don't trust that I would be safe. "They would be devastated if they lost me as well. We can't be there with him now, but it is brilliant that it is happening. We are massively grateful." She added: "Robert is not well at all. He really needs to just come home so he can get the proper medical care he needs. "It was a shock. 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Extra.ie
a day ago
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Robert Pether's wife says he's ‘unrecognisable' after release from Iraqi prison
The wife of Robert Pether has said that her husband is unrecognisable, after he was released from an Iraqi prison after four years. Mr Pether, an Australian national who had been living in Ireland, was detained in Iraq on fraud charges in April 2021, in what the United Nations called an arbitrary detention. Today's top videos STORY CONTINUES BELOW Mr Pether's wife, Desree, who had been living with him in Co Roscommon for a number of years, said that while she was relieved her husband was freed, he is 'not well at all,' and needs to return home so he can receive proper medical attention. The wife of Robert Pether has said that her husband is unrecognisable, after he was released from an Iraqi prison after four years. 'I feel like a bus has hit me,' Ms Pether told RTE's Morning Ireland. 'It all happened so late last night; he was released, the paperwork was sorted, it's the end of the work week in Iraq, and now they have Eid, so they were off for the next few days, and so we don't know the exact stipulations on the travel ban. But at least he's out of prison and in a comfortable bed.' Speaking about her finding out that her husband was released, Ms Pether is unsure when he'll be able to return to Ireland from Iraq, with logistics around keeping him healthy at the moment taking priority as he's taken ill. 'He's very sick at the moment,' she said. 'We really just need to get onto that travel ban as soon as business is back up and running in Iraq, and try to get him home.' Mr Pether was jailed in Iraq four years ago following a dispute with the Iraqi government while he was helping to build the Iraq Central Bank. Ms Pether added that she got to speak to her husband late on Thursday night via video link for the first time in four years, but admitted that she received a shock at Mr Pether's condition. 'It was a shock. It was hard to be very happy to see him, but also to see the state of him,' she said. 'He's completely unrecognisable. It's a shock to the system to see how far he has declined. 'He really needs to just come home so he can get the proper medical care he needs.' Robert Pether with children, from left, Oscar, Flynn and Nala. As to how her husband will get home, Ms Pether admitted that it's a 'living nightmare' trying to figure out how he'll get home — saying '18 hours a day, seven days a week… [his release] is just one small step in the right direction finally. 'Until he's actually on the plane out of airspace and on his way, I don't think we will breathe properly and let go of all the angst.' Mr Pether was detained while working on the Iraqi Central Bank in Baghdad, but a dispute arose between the bank and the company Mr Pether worked for, with the bank accusing Mr Pether and his colleague Khalid Radwan, from Egypt, of stealing money. The pair were sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay a $12million penalty, but the UN accused the Iraqi regime of arbitrarily detaining the men. Mr Pether still faces a travel ban from Iraq, with the hopes that he will return to Ireland soon.
