UN top court orders Israel to open more land crossings for aid into Gaza
The Hague (Netherland), Mar 28: The top United Nations court on Thursday ordered Israel to take measures including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into Gaza to tackle crippling shortages in the war-ravaged enclave.
The International Court of Justice issued two new so-called provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its military campaign launched after the October 7 attacks by Hamas. Israel stringently denies it is committing genocide and says its military campaign is self defence.
Thursday's order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a ceasefire, citing starvation in Gaza. Israel urged the court not to issue new orders.
In its legally binding order, the court told Israel to takemeasures "without delay" to ensure "the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance" including food, water, fuel and medical supplies.
It also ordered Israel to immediately ensure that its military does not take action that could that could harm Palestinians' rights under the Genocide Convention, "including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance".
The court told Israel to report back in a month on its implementation of the orders.
Israel's Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment on the order.
In a written response earlier this month to South Africa's request for more measures, Israel said that claims by South Africa in its request were "wholly unfounded in fact and law, morally repugnant, and represent an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court itself".
After initially sealing Gaza's borders in the early days of the war, Israel began to allow humanitarian supplies to flow in. It says it places no restrictions on the amounts of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to properly organise the deliveries.
The UN and international aid groups say deliveries have been impeded by Israeli military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.
Israel has been working with international partners on a plan to soon begin deliveries of aid by sea.
Israel has repeatedly feuded with the United Nations, particularly UNRWA, the UN refugee for Palestinian refugees and main provider of aid in Gaza. Israel accuses the agency of tolerating and even cooperating with Hamas a charge UNRWA denies.
The court said in its order that "Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine ... but that famine is setting in." It cited a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that said at least 31 people, including 27 children, having already died of malnutrition and dehydration.
The world court said that earlier orders imposed on Israel after landmark hearings in South Africa's case, "do not fully address the consequences arising from the changes in the situation" in Gaza.
The Israeli military has repeatedly claimed that Israel is ready to let in unlimited amounts of aid into Gaza, but that international aid organisations are unable to distribute the aid, leading to the bottleneck. On Tuesday, the army said they inspected 258 aid trucks but only 116 were distributed within Gaza by the UN.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, has also run pilot programs to inspect the humanitarian aid at Israel's main checkpoints in the south and then use land crossings in central Gaza to try to bring aid to the devasted northern part of the Strip. They had no immediate comment on the ICJ ruling.
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Indian-origin doc who drove Tesla off cliff with family inside experienced ‘psychotic’ break: Report
Los Angeles, Apr 28: An Indian-origin radiologist who drove his Tesla off a cliff in the US with his wife and children inside allegedly suffered from major depressive disorder and was experiencing a psychotic break at the time of the incident, media reports quoted two doctors testifying at a recent hearing.
Dharmesh Patel from Pasadena, California was charged in January last year with three counts of attempted murder after he drove the family’s Tesla off the cliff at Devil’s Slide on Highway 1 near Half Moon Bay, according to prosecutors.
Patel, his wife, Neha, and their children — a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy at the time — miraculously survived.
Patel, 43, was experiencing hallucinations, hearing footsteps and believed his children had been sex trafficked, two doctors testified at a hearing on Wednesday in Redwood City.
ALSO READ: Three women from India killed in US car crash; their Gujarat village holds prayer meeting
Wednesday’s hearing was a response to an earlier request from Patel who is seeking a mental health diversion in his case, the New York Post newspaper reported.
If a judge grants the doctors' request, Patel would be placed on a two-year treatment plan instead of receiving jail time.
Patel’s charges would be dropped if he doesn’t commit any crimes during the proposed treatment plan.
At the time of the crash, the doctors testified, Patel was experiencing a psychotic episode in which he believed that his children might be sex trafficked, Los Angeles Times newspaper quoted District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe as saying.
Doctors -- Mark Patterson and James Armontrout -- testified for the defence.
If Patel is placed in the mental diversion program, James Armontrout, a Stanford psychiatric clinician, will oversee the treatment.
“I see him as someone who is very motivated and amenable to treatment,” psychologist Mark Patterson testified at the hearing.
Patterson’s diagnosis of Patel came after a series of 18 tests were conducted and he spoke with the doctor and his siblings.
Prosecutors oppose diversion in the case, arguing that the prosecution’s doctor found Patel is not suffering from a major depressive disorder with a psychotic feature, but from a different disorder, known as schizoaffective, and that the defence’s proposed treatment plan will not be effective.
Prosecutors believe the case should remain in court.
Wagstaffe worried that if Patel is released he will not be monitored except in his meetings with doctors.
“If he goes off his medication, how do you know? It’s not like being on probation or parole. It’s purely the visits with the psychiatrist,” he said.
Patel’s attorney, Joshua Bentley, did not respond to a request for comment, the report said.
