UN chief calls Israel's decision to control Gaza City 'dangerous escalation'
United Nations, Aug 8 (AP): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said Israel's decision to control Gaza City “risks deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians, and could further endanger more lives, including of the remaining hostages”, according to his spokesperson.
Guterres also warns that an Israeli offensive will result in additional forced displacement, killings and massive destruction, "compounding the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza,” associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said.
The secretary-general reiterated his urgent appeal for a ceasefire, she said.
The UN chief strongly urged Israel to abide by the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice to end its “unlawful presence” in Palestinian territory including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Tremblay told UN reporters on Friday.
EU report finds little aid is getting into Gaza
The European Union has concluded that little aid is flowing into Gaza despite an understanding reached between Brussels and Israel last month, according to a report by the 27-nation bloc's foreign service.
Although roughly 5,000 trucks entered Gaza during the “limited lifting of the blockade by Israel,” there are still “significant operational and bureaucratic constraints” on aid delivery, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Associated Press.
Since May 19, an average of 36 trucks a day has entered Gaza, laden with food, nutrition supplements, medical supplies and chlorine, but 90% was looted once in Gaza, the report says.
The EU had reached an agreement with Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza, but officials have not been able to confirm any improvements for themselves.
Israel has blocked an EU monitoring team from entering Gaza because they were not humanitarian aid providers, said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a European Commission spokesperson, at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.
Palestinians call for emergency UN meeting on Israeli announcement
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, said the Security Council meeting should take place immediately - possibly Friday afternoon or Saturday.
He called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement of a military operation to control all of Gaza, starting with Gaza City, which he said is populated by about 1 million Palestinians, “a crazy, irresponsible, dangerous, vicious plan”.
“Our objective is to stop Israel from taking this extremely dangerous escalation,” he said. “We need all of us collectively to prevail, to stop this insanity and to allow peace to be the option of war and the continuation of the suffering.”
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Dileep case: Advocate representing survivor alleges Judge favoured actor
Thiruvanthapuram: A month after Malayalam film Actor Dileep was acquitted in the the case pertaining to abduction and rape of a famous Malayalam actress, Advocate T B Mini, the survivor's counsel in the case has accussed the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese of favouring Actor Dileep in her petition to the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, reported On Manorama.
In her petition(accessed by Onmanorama), Mini has sought contempt of court proceedings against Honey Varghese alleging that the trial court judge made derisive remarks about her, including claims that she would doze off during court proceedings and was lax in handling the actress assault case.
Mini, who described the comments as false, contemptuous and defamatory, alleged in her petition that Honey Varghese had unduly favoured Dileep, the actor and producer who was the eighth accused in the case.
In the verdict delivered in December last year, Judge Honey Varghese acquitted Dileep and three other accused while sentencing six convicts to imprisonment.
The ruling drew major uproar, while Mini had refrained from making any public remarks against the judge at the time, stating only that the verdict was disappointing, now she has levelled serious allegations against the judge as the High Court is set to begin hearing the bail pleas filed by the six convicts on February 4.
Furthermore, Mini has stated in her petition that since the very first stage of the trial, the Judge Honey Varghese passed derogatory remarks against the survivor and behaved discourteously towards the prosecution, which eventually led to the resignation of two Special Public Prosecutors. According to Mini, the undue favour shown by Honey Varghese to Dileep resulted in a serious miscarriage of justice and brought disrepute to the judicial system.
She stated in the petition that it was a regular practice of Honey Varghese to pass derogatory comments about the survivor as well as the prosecution witnesses.
Mini also alleged that on several occasions, the Special Public Prosecutor was compelled to remind the judge that such conduct was in violation of the Supreme Court’s directions.
Mini also questioned the manner in which Honey Varghese conducted the inquiry into the illegal access of the memory card containing visuals of the sexual assault.
The memory card, a vital piece of evidence kept in the custody of the Sessions Court, was unlawfully accessed and tampered with, leading to a change in its hash value.
According to the report, an examination by the State Forensic Science Laboratory found that the card had been accessed on January 9, 2018, December 13, 2018, and July 19, 2021, while it was under the safe custody of different courts.
Mini stated in the petition that the memory card was illegally accessed for nearly half an hour in July 2021 while it was in the custody of the court presided over by Honey Varghese.
After the survivor approached the High Court citing a breach of privacy, the HC directed Honey Varghese to conduct an inquiry. Mini alleged that the judge carried out only a perfunctory inquiry, in violation of the High Court’s directions.
Mini has sought legal action against Honey Varghese, stating that when a lawyer is defamed in open court through false allegations, the judge is liable to face proceedings before the High Court. She noted in the petition that although she had a very limited role in the trial as the survivor’s counsel, she regularly attended the proceedings from November 2022 onward.
