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Detained Tufts student seeking transfer says asthma attacks worsened in custody

Detained Tufts student seeking transfer says asthma attacks worsened in custody

A Turkish Tufts University student says her asthma attacks continue to worsen since she was taken into custody, arguing ahead of her latest court hearing that her health has suffered while being held in crowded conditions.
Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was detained by immigration officials
as she walked along a street
in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. She is currently being held in a detention center in Basile, Louisiana. A federal three-judge panel will hear arguments Tuesday over whether
to grant a federal judge's order
to transfer Ozturk to Vermont.
'Since my arrest, in the span of five weeks, I have had at least eight asthma attacks where I have felt unable to control my coughing,' Ozturk wrote in court documents released Monday. 'Prior to my arrest, in the span of 2-3 years, I had approximately 9 such asthma attacks in which I felt unable to control my coughing.'
A district court
judge in Vermont had earlier ordered
that the 30-year-old doctoral student be brought to the state for hearings to determine whether she was illegally detained. Ozturk's lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.
The U.S. Justice Department, which is appealing that ruling, said that an immigration court in Louisiana has jurisdiction over her case.
In court filings, Ozturk says she's had trouble receiving proper medical care while at the Louisiana detention center, noting that her asthma attacks can last up to 45 minutes and that she's rarely given opportunities for fresh air.
'I do not have control over the exposure to potential triggers,' Ozturk added. 'The dorm rooms in detention are very crowded, and the other women have reported seeing mice in the dorm rooms. Additionally, the air conditioning is running most of the day, and I do not have immediate access to fresh air.'
Immigration officials surrounded Ozturk
as she walked along a street
in a Boston suburb on March 25 and drove her to New Hampshire and Vermont before putting her on a plane to a detention center in Louisiana.
Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university's response to student activists demanding that Tufts 'acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,' disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in March, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

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At least four killed by Israeli fire near Gaza food point, officials say
At least four killed by Israeli fire near Gaza food point, officials say

Yahoo

time7 hours ago

  • Yahoo

At least four killed by Israeli fire near Gaza food point, officials say

At least four people have been killed and others injured by Israeli fire about a kilometre from a food distribution point in Gaza, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said, the latest casualties of a new system to provide supplies that critics say is unethical, chaotic and dangerous. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces had opened fire on Sunday morning as people went to receive supplies from a site in Rafah run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israeli and US-backed group. Israel's military said it had fired warning shots at people who had approached its forces. It acknowledged reports of injuries but did not specify how many people it believed had been affected. Bodies were brought to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis. Al-Awda hospital said it had received the body of a 42-year-old man, as well as 29 people who had been injured near another GHF distribution point. The Reuters news agency reported that four people had been killed by the Israeli fire, while the Associated Press put the death toll at 'at least' five. The deaths bring the number of people who have been killed while trying to find food in Gaza since 27 May, when GHF became responsible for civilian food provision, to 110. More than 1,000 have been injured. Witnesses said Sunday's shooting in southern Gaza occurred at about 6am, when they had been told the site would open. Many had headed towards it early to try to get desperately needed food before the crowds. The military had announced on Friday that the sites would be open from 6am and that the area would be a closed military zone from 6pm until 6am. A GHF spokesperson said there had been 'no incident at or in [the] surrounding vicinity' of any distribution site. Adham Dahman, 30, who was at Nasser hospital with a bandage on his chin, told Associated Press that a tank had fired in their direction. 'We didn't know how to escape,' he said. 'This is trap for us, not aid.' Zahed Ben Hassan, another witness, said someone next to him had been shot in the head. He said he and others had pulled the body from the scene and managed to flee to the hospital. 'They said it was a safe area from 6am until 6pm … so why did they start shooting at us?' he said. 'There was light out, and they have their cameras and can clearly see us.' Sanaa Doghmah told Reuters that her husband, Khaled, 36, was fatally shot in the head while trying to reach a distribution site in Rafah to collect food for their five children. Khaled's aunt, Salwah, said at his funeral: 'He was going to get food for his children and himself, to make them live, feed them, because they don't have a pinch of flour at home.' There have been frequent shootings in the past two weeks near the new hubs, where thousands of Palestinians are being directed to collect food. Coverage of the war in Gaza is constrained by Israeli attacks on Palestinian journalists and a bar on international reporters entering the Gaza Strip to report independently on the war. Israel has not allowed foreign reporters to enter Gaza since 7 October 2023, unless they are under Israeli military escort. Reporters who join these trips have no control over where they go, and other restrictions include a bar on speaking to Palestinians in Gaza. Palestinian journalists and media workers inside Gaza have paid a heavy price for their work reporting on the war, with over 180 killed since the conflict began. The committee to protect journalists has determined that at least 19 of them 'were directly targeted by Israeli forces in killings which CPJ classifies as murders'. Foreign reporters based in Israel filed a legal petition seeking access to Gaza, but it was rejected by the supreme court on security grounds. Private lobbying by diplomats and public appeals by prominent journalists and media outlets have been ignored by the Israeli government. To ensure accurate reporting from Gaza given these restrictions, the Guardian works with trusted journalists on the ground; our visual​​ teams verif​y photo and videos from third parties; and we use clearly sourced data from organisations that have a track record of providing accurate information in Gaza during past conflicts, or during other conflicts or humanitarian crises. Emma Graham-Harrison, chief Middle East correspondent The GHF announced on Wednesday that its operations would be suspended for 24 hours after Israeli troops opened fire on a crowd of Palestinians, as it pressed Israel to improve civilian safety beyond the perimeter of its distribution sites. Israeli troops killed at least 27 people and injured hundreds on Tuesday far beyond the perimeter of the distribution sites. They denied firing at civilians, but an Israel Defense Forces official admitted soldiers had fired 'warning shots toward several suspects who advanced toward the troops' near the food distribution site, without specifying who the suspects were. On 1 June, 31 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they went to receive food. Israel said it had fired warning shots towards several suspects who advanced towards troops. Israel imposed a blockade on all supplies to Gaza in March, saying Hamas was seizing deliveries for its fighters, which the group denies. A global hunger monitor said in May that half a million people in the strip faced starvation. The IPC estimated that nearly 71,000 children under five were expected to be 'acutely malnourished', with 14,100 cases expected to be severe in the next 11 months. The hubs are set up inside Israeli military zones, to which independent media have no access, and are run by GHF, a new group of mainly US contractors. Israel wants it to replace a system coordinated by the UN and international aid groups. The UN and other humanitarian organisations have rejected the new system, saying the GHF will not be able to meet the needs of Gaza's 2.3 million people and that it allows Israel to use food as a weapon to control the population. Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

Israeli bombing in Gaza ‘worse than ever': UK doctor after latest mission
Israeli bombing in Gaza ‘worse than ever': UK doctor after latest mission

Yahoo

time7 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Israeli bombing in Gaza ‘worse than ever': UK doctor after latest mission

On a typical day at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, Victoria Rose, a British surgeon, would wake up before dawn. 'Because the bombing would start at four,' she said, now back in London, having just wrapped up her third humanitarian mission to Gaza since Israel's war began in October 2023. Over almost four weeks in May, she usually operated on 12 or 13 patients per 14-hour shift, unless there was a mass casualty incident overnight, meaning even longer shifts and more patients. By comparison, in London hospitals, she treats a maximum of three patients per day. 'It's operating nonstop in Gaza,' she said. Recalling some of her many patients, she treated 11-year-old Adam al-Najjar, the sole surviving child of Dr Alaa al-Najjar, whose nine other children and husband, Hamdi, also a doctor, were killed in an attack in Khan Younis last month. She vividly remembers two brothers with lower limb injuries, Yakoob and Mohammed, who were the sole survivors of their family, and an eight-year-old girl named Aziza who was orphaned. 'She had a burn on her face and her shoulder, and somebody found her walking the streets and brought her in,' said Rose, who specialises in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Rose and a team of medics also worked tirelessly to save the leg of a seven-year-old girl who, after an explosion, 'was missing her knee … it was like looking at the back of her leg without the bone in'. Having cleaned the area, removed dead skin and muscle, and dressed the wound, the girl returned three more times for further treatment, but ultimately, her limb was amputated. Al Jazeera spoke with Dr Rose about the growing intensity of Israeli bombardment, the impact of malnutrition which has been exacerbated by a three-month aid blockade, deaths and gunshot wounds she saw among those who desperately tried to get rations via a new mechanism backed by the United States and Israel, and her sense of frustration that as the death toll rises and the scale of injuries is well documented, disbelief in Palestinian suffering prevails. Al Jazeera: How did you feel entering Gaza this time around? Victoria Rose: Definitely once we got in, the bombing was far worse than it's ever been, and it was far, far louder, closer, more constant than it's ever been. The drones – it was as if they were on me. They were constantly there and really loud to the point that it was difficult to have a conversation if you were outside. Al Jazeera: What do the types of injuries you saw reveal about the current intensity of the bombing? Rose: This time, the injuries seemed to be from the heart of an explosion. People had been blown up, and bits of them had been blown off. Last summer, it was far more shrapnel wounds – a bomb had gone off in the vicinity, and something had been whipped up and then it ejected at them in a missile-type fashion and hit them and done some damage to their bodies. Much more survivable, reconstructable-type injuries, whereas these appeared to be far more direct hits on people. Al Jazeera: You have volunteered three times during the genocide, including in March and August last year. The death toll, now at about 55,000, continues to rise at haste. Was this the most challenging trip? Rose: This is, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst. The volume of patients is more and the kids are more. The number of kids has gone up exponentially. They've doubled since the March (2024) trip – the number of children that I've seen. During the first trip (in March 2024), I thought I was seeing loads of children, but this trip surpassed that. Al Jazeera: How would you describe Nasser Hospital? Rose: It's a very similar scenario, very similar vibe to being in a hospital anywhere, but it's just so packed. It's everybody; it's like the whole population is in there. (Doctors are usually) very selective with the people that we hospitalise. They're normally older, or got cancer, or complications from diabetes or heart attacks – that's normally who gets hospital beds in the UK. But there, it could be everybody on your road. It's just normal people that have been blown up. Healthy people that are otherwise really fit and well, and now have been blown up. It's quite bizarre to hospitalise somebody that was fit yesterday and, well, now is missing an arm or part of an arm. Al Jazeera: You were in Gaza when people desperately trying to secure food aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a new mechanism backed by Israel and the US, were attacked. Many were killed. You did some media interviews at the time. What did you witness and experience? Rose: The bulk of the victims had gunshot wounds. They were shot in the stomach, shot in the leg, shot in the arm. After the GHF shooting, when (the victims) all came in, immediately the next journalist (I spoke to) was saying to me that 'Israel has denied that they've shot anyone and you know, they're saying that it's the Palestinians shooting each other'. And then they sort of said, 'Nobody's been killed', and I was standing in the emergency department with 30 body bags, thinking, you can't lie like this. You just can't. Al Jazeera: Many in Gaza are vulnerable to starvation, and thousands of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations. How does this affect patients and hospital staff? Rose: Everybody's lost weight. They will tell you, 'I am now five or 10 kg lower in weight.' My medical students I was there with in August, the girls are just so thin now. They're all in their 20s, and all of them looked really as if they'd lost significant amounts of weight. But the children are really small. They're really skinny. Sixty children have died at Nasser Hospital of malnutrition. It is mainly the children that are lactose intolerant or have some other disease as well, because none of the only formula milk that's getting in is suitable for children with lactose intolerance. Then you have children that have other diseases on top of that, which stop them from being able to take normal milk. That was quite shocking. The trauma patients, which is who I was seeing, were also really small. No fat on them at all, quite a bit of muscle wasting. And they didn't really heal very well. It seemed to take a lot longer this time than it did in August for wounds to heal. There were lots of infections, a huge number of infections; with malnutrition, you get a dampening of the immune system. It's one of the areas that's affected the most. You can't mount a good immune response. On top of that, all the wounds were dirty anyway because everyone's living in a tent and there's no sanitation, no clean water. You're starting in a really difficult position, and then you've run out of antibiotics. We only had three types of antibiotics that we could use, and none of them would have been the first-line choice if we'd have been in the UK. Al Jazeera: How would you describe the morale among the doctors you worked with? Rose: Really bad now. So many of them said to me, 'I'd rather die than carry on.' So many of them want a ceasefire, and I think would be prepared to do whatever it takes to get a ceasefire now. They are at their lowest. They've all moved 15 times. They've all lost significant members of the family – these guys have lost kids. Their houses are completely destroyed. It's really, really difficult times for them. Al Jazeera: What are your fears for Gaza? Rose: It's a man-made humanitarian crisis, so it could be man-stopped, and that's what needs to happen. This could be turned off immediately if people put enough pressure on the right governments, the right leaders. I think, if we don't turn it off soon, there won't be a Gaza and there certainly won't be Palestinians in Gaza. It's very difficult to have any conversations with Palestinians about the future because they can't really see it. Note: This interview was lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Palestinians say Israeli fire kills 12 near aid sites
Palestinians say Israeli fire kills 12 near aid sites

Boston Globe

time19 hours ago

  • Boston Globe

Palestinians say Israeli fire kills 12 near aid sites

Advertisement Eleven of the latest bodies were brought to Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces fired on some at a roundabout around a kilometer (half-mile) from a site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, in nearby Rafah. Israel's military said it fired warning shots at approaching 'suspects' who ignored warnings to turn away. It said the shooting happened in an area that is considered an active combat zone at night. Al-Awda Hospital said it received the body of a man and 29 people who were wounded near another GHF aid distribution point in central Gaza. The military said it fired warning shots in the area at around 6:40 a.m., but didn't see any casualties. Advertisement A GHF official said there was no violence in or around its distribution sites, all three of which delivered aid on Sunday. The group closed them temporarily last week to discuss safety measures with Israel's military and has warned people to stay on designated access routes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The new aid hubs are set up inside Israeli military zones where independent media have no access. The GHF also said it was piloting direct delivery to a community north of Rafah. Witnesses said the first shootings in southern Gaza took place at around 6 a.m., when they were told the site would open. Many headed toward it early, seeking desperately needed food before crowds arrived. Gaza's roughly 2 million Palestinians are almost completely reliant on international aid because nearly all food production capabilities have been destroyed. Adham Dahman, who was at Nasser Hospital with a bandage on his chin, said a tank fired toward them. 'We didn't know how to escape,' he said. 'This is [a] trap for us, not aid.' Zahed Ben Hassan said someone next to him was shot in the head. 'They said it was a safe area from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. ... So why did they start shooting at us?' he said. 'There was light out, and they have their cameras and can clearly see us.' The military announced on Friday that the sites would be open during those hours, and the areas would be a closed military zone the rest of the time. Children cried over their father's body at the hospital. 'I can't see you like this, Dad!' one girl said. Advertisement The new aid hubs are run by GHF, a new group of mainly American contractors. Israel wants it to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Israel and the United States accuse the Hamas militant group of stealing aid. The UN denies there is systematic diversion. The UN says the new system is unable to meet mounting needs, allows Israel to use aid as a weapon by determining who can receive it and forces people to relocate to where aid sites are positioned. The UN system has struggled to deliver aid, even after Israel eased its blockade of Gaza last month. UN officials say their efforts are hindered by Israeli military restrictions, the breakdown of law and order and widespread looting. Experts warned earlier this year that Gaza was at critical risk of famine, if Israel didn't lift its blockade and halt its military campaign. Both were renewed in March. Israeli officials have said the offensive will continue until all hostages are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and sent into exile. On Sunday, Israel's military invited journalists into Khan Younis to show a tunnel under the European Hospital, saying they found the body of Mohammed Sinwar, the head of Hamas' armed wing, there after he was killed last month. Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza independently since the war began. '(Israeli forces) would prefer not to hit or target hospitals,' army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said. Sinwar's body was found in a room under the hospital's emergency room, Defrin said. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Talks mediated by the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar have been deadlocked for months. Advertisement Hamas started the war with its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage. They still hold 55 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It says women and children make up most of the dead, but doesn't say how many civilians or combatants were killed. Israel says it has killed more than 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of its population.

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