UN court denies Mladic request for release on health grounds
THE HAGUE (Reuters) -A U.N. war crimes court on Tuesday denied an application by Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, who is serving a life sentence for his role in the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, to be urgently released to Serbia on health grounds.
In a decision published on the court's website, the court said that while Mladic's health condition is precarious, it is stable and well managed at the U.N. detention centre in The Hague.
The specific medical conditions of the 83-year-old former general, convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, are redacted in court papers but he is known to suffer cognitive impairments and was hospitalised at least twice this year, according to earlier court hearings and documents.
"Uncontradicted medical opinions indicate that Mladic is nearing the end of his life, a fate that is human," the president of the court Graciela Gatti Santana, said in the ruling.
She added, however, that the former general does not have an acute terminal illness which could justify his release.
Mladic led Bosnian Serb forces during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, part of the bloody break up of Yugoslavia. He was convicted on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes including terrorising the civilian population of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo during a 43-month siege, and the killing of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys taken prisoner in the eastern town of Srebrenica in 1995.
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Boston Globe
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Israeli fire again kills Gaza aid-seekers as US envoy meets with hostages' families
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Advertisement Near the northernmost GHF distribution site near the Netzarim corridor, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid, described a grimly familiar scene. After helping carry three people wounded by gunshots, he said he saw others on the ground, bleeding. 'It's the same daily episode,' Youssef said. Health workers said at least eight people were killed. Israel's military said it fired warning shots at a gathering approaching its forces. At least two people were killed in the Shakoush area hundreds of meters (yards) from where the GHF operates in the southernmost city of Rafah, witnesses said. Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis received two bodies and many injured. Witness Mohamed Abu Taha said Israeli troops opened fire toward the crowds. He saw three people — two men and a woman — shot as he fled. Israel's military said it was not aware of any fire by its forces in the area. The GHF said nothing happened near its sites. 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Hamilton Spectator
15 hours ago
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Israeli fire again kills Gaza aid-seekers as US envoy meets with hostages' families
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Experts this week said a 'worst-case scenario of famine' was occurring in the besieged enclave. On Saturday, Gaza's health ministry said seven more Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, including a child. Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza fear they are going hungry too, and blame Hamas, after the militants released images of an emaciated hostage, Evyatar David. More deaths near U.S.-supported GHF sites Near the northernmost GHF distribution site near the Netzarim corridor, Yahia Youssef, who had come to seek aid Saturday morning, described a panicked and grimly familiar scene. After helping carry three people wounded by gunshots, he said he saw others on the ground, bleeding. 'It's the same daily episode,' Youssef said. Health workers said at least eight people were killed. Israel's military said it fired warning shots at a gathering approaching its forces. 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'Let's go back to what works & let us do our job,' Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote Saturday on social media, calling for more and safer truck deliveries. Airstrikes continue An Israeli strike hit a group of Palestinians trying to secure aid trucks entering northern Gaza from the Israeli-controlled Zikim crossing, killing at least three people, said Fares Awad, head of the health ministry's ambulance and emergency service. Nasser Hospital said it received five bodies after two separate strikes on tents sheltering displaced people in Gaza's south. The health ministry's ambulance and emergency service said an Israeli strike hit a house between the towns of Zawaida and Deir al-Balah, killing two parents and their three children. Another strike hit a tent near a closed prison where the displaced have sheltered in Khan Younis, killing a mother and her daughter. Israel's top general Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that 'combat will continue without rest' if hostages aren't freed. Hostage families push Israel to cut deal U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with hostages' families Saturday, a week after quitting ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas's intransigence. 'I didn't hear anything new from him. I heard that there was pressure from the Americans to end this operation, but we didn't hear anything practical,' said Michel Illouz, father of Israeli hostage Guy Illouz, whose body was taken into Gaza. He said he asked Witkoff to exert pressure and set a time frame but got 'no answers.' Protesters called on Israel's government to make a deal to end the war, imploring them to 'stop this nightmare and bring them out of the tunnels' Coming home to ruins In part of Gaza City, displaced people who managed to return home found rubble-strewn neighborhoods unrecognizable. Most Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced, often multiple times, and are crowded into ever-shrinking areas considered safe. 'I don't know what to do. Destruction, destruction,' said Mohamed Qeiqa, who stood amid collapsed slabs of concrete and pointed out what had been a five-story building. 'Where will people settle?' The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,400 Palestinians , according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but says women and children make up over half the dead. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. The ministry says 93 children have died from malnutrition-related causes in Gaza since the war began. It said 76 adults have died of malnutrition-related causes since late June, when it started counting adult deaths. ___ Metz reported from Jerusalem and Magdy from Cairo. ___ Follow AP's war coverage at Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Hamilton Spectator
a day ago
- Hamilton Spectator
PHOTO ESSAY: Starvation attacks the bodies of these children in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — In some tents and shelters in northern Gaza, emaciated children are held in their parents' arms. Their tiny arms and legs dangle limp. Their shoulder blades and ribs stick out from skeletal bodies slowly consuming themselves for lack of food. Starvation always stalks the most vulnerable first. Kids with preexisting conditions, like cerebral palsy, waste away quickly because the high-calorie foods they need have run out, along with nutritional supplements. But after months of Israeli blockade and turmoil in the distribution of supplies , children in Gaza with no previous conditions are also starting to die from malnutrition, aid workers and doctors say. Over the past month, 25 children have died of malnutrition-related causes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, though it's not known how many had other conditions. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and its figures on war deaths are seen by the U.N. and other experts as the most reliable estimate of casualties. Salem Awad was born in January with no medical problems, the youngest of six children, his mother Hiyam Awad said. But she was too weak from lack of food to breastfeed him. For the first two months of Salem's life, there was a ceasefire in Gaza, and more aid entered, but even then it was hard to find milk for him, his mother said. In March, Israel cut off all food from entering the territory for more than 2 1/2 months. Since then, Salem has been wasting away. Now he weighs 4 kilograms (9 pounds), his mother said. 'He just keeps losing weight. At the hospital, they say if he doesn't get milk, he could die,' she said, speaking in the family's tent in Gaza City. Israel has been allowing a trickle of aid into Gaza since late May. After an international outcry over increasing starvation, it introduced new measures last weekend it says are intended to increase the amount of food getting to the population, including airdrops and pauses in military operations in some areas. But so far, they have not had a significant effect, aid groups say. Food experts warned this week the 'worst-case scenario of famine is playing out in Gaza.' The U.N. says the impact of hunger building for months is quickly worsening, especially in Gaza City and other parts of northern Gaza, where it estimates nearly one in five children is now acutely malnourished. Across Gaza, more than 5,000 children were diagnosed with malnutrition this month, though that is likely an undercount, the U.N. says. Malnutrition was virtually nonexistent before the war. Doctors struggle to treat the children because many supplies have run out, the U.N. says. Israel denies a famine is taking place or that children are starving . It says it has supplied enough food throughout the war and accuses Hamas of causing shortages by stealing aid and trying to control food distribution. Humanitarian groups deny that significant diversion of food takes place. Throughout nearly 22 months of war, the number of aid trucks has been far short of the roughly 500 a day the U.N. says is needed. The impact is seen most strongly in children with special needs — and those who have been grievously wounded in Israeli bombardment. Mosab al-Dibs, 14, suffered a heavy head wound on May 7 when an airstrike hit next to his family's tent. For about two months, he has been at Shifa Hospital, largely paralyzed, only partly conscious and severely malnourished because the facility no longer has the supplies to feed him, said Dr. Jamal Salha. Mosab's mother, Shahinaz al-Dibs, said the boy was healthy before the war, but that since he was wounded, his weight has fallen from 40 kilograms to less than 10 (88 to 22 pounds) At his bedside, she moves his spindly arms to exercise them. The networks of tiny blue veins are visible through the nearly transparent skin over his protruding ribs. The boy's eyes dart around, but he doesn't respond. His mother puts some bread soaked in water — the only food she can afford — into a large syringe and squirts it into his mouth in a vain attempt to feed him. Most of it dribbles out from his lips. What he needs is a nutrient formula suitable for tube feeding that the hospital doesn't have, Salha said. At a school-turned-shelter for displaced people in Gaza City, Samah Matar cradles her son Yousef as his little brother Amir lies on a cushion beside her — both of them emaciated. The two boys have cerebral palsy and also need a special diet. 'Before the war, their health situation was good,' said Matar. They could get the foods they needed, but now 'all those things have disappeared, and their health has declined continually.' Yousef, 6 years old, has dropped from 14 kilograms (30 pounds) before the war to 9 kilograms (19 pounds) now. His 4-year-old brother, Amir, has shrunk from 9 kilograms to under 6 (19 to 13 pounds), she said. ___ This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
