UN chief condemns atrocious Gaza killings; death toll reaches over 500

[email protected] (Al-Jazeera)
July 21, 2014

IDF

Gaza, Jul 21: Israel's fiercest attack on Gaza in recent years killed more than people as the Palestinian death toll in the conflict rose over 500.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the killing of dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by Israeli shelling as an "atrocious action" and called for an immediate end to almost two weeks of fighting.

Ban's comments on Sunday came before a UN Security Council emergency meeting on Gaza early on Monday that was convened on the request of Jordan.

It also comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back to the Middle East as the Obama administration attempts to bolster regional efforts to reach a cease-fire.

The State Department said Kerry would leave on Monday for Egypt where he will join diplomatic efforts to resume a truce that had been agreed to in November 2012.

Ban, in Doha on the first leg of a Middle East tour to try to end the bloodshed that has cost more than 400 lives, met Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiya before heading for Egypt.

"While I was on route to Doha, dozens more civilians have been killed in the Israeli military strikes . . . in Gaza ... I condemn the atrocious action," he said in a statement after talks with Attiya.

"Israel must exercise maximum restraint. I repeat my demands to all sides that they must respect international humanitarian law. The violence must stop now," he added.

More than 60 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed as Israel shelled Gaza's Shejaia neighbourhood and battled Hamas fighters in the bloodiest fighting in the 13-day offensive.

Attiyah called the killings a massacre and said Israel must not be allowed to chose when to wage a war and when to stop.

"We condemn all the atrocities perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people, the last of which was al-Shejaia massacre today," Attiya said. "The majority of the victims were women and children."

Israeli soldier 'captured'

Hamas' armed wing al-Qassam brigades said they had taken an Israeli soldier, named Shaul Aron, captive late on Sunday, a claim Israel has not confirmed.

"When they [Israel] decided on this operation they have to expect that their soldiers may be killed, captured, or injured", Senior Hamas official and spokesman Osama Hamdan said.

In an appeal filmed in Doha, Palestinian President Abbas called on the international community to protect Palestinians against what he called the current "unbearable" situation.

"The UN security council has failed to protect Palestinians and I call on the council to hold an emergency meeting today to protect Palestinians... what Israel did today is crime against humanity," he said in the recording shown to reporters.

He further called for an immediate ceasefire and stressed that unity among all factions in the Palestinian territories.

Hamas says any accord must include lifting a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt on the Gaza Strip and a return to an understanding that ended a previous round of fighting in 2012.

"There was an Egyptian proposal, which was not accepted by the Palestinians because there were no gurantees for a ceasefire, there were no gurantees for lifting the siege on Gaza and stopping the violations in the West Bank", Hamdan said.

"I am looking forward to a model better than 2012. The events now are worse, the attack is worse- Israel has violated the 2012 ceasefire, so we need more gurantees from the Israeli side and the international community", Hamdan said.

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News Network
May 1,2020

Mysuru, May 1: Four people who brought a dead man’s body from Mumbai for cremation in his native place in Mandya district in Karnataka have tested positive for Covid-19 virus, and now the administration is trying to find out if the man himself had been an undetected positive.

According to Mandya district deputy commissioner M V Venkatesh, the deceased man was a 53-year-old native of B Kodagalli of Pandavapura taluk, Melkote hobli in Mandya district. He died after suffering a heart attack at the U N Desai government hospital in Mumbai on April 23.

The cremation took place outside the man's native village after the local administration refused to allow it inside the village.

Wanting the final rites performed in his native place, the man’s family got the body embalmed and procured all the medical records and certificates from the hospital and brought it in an ambulance belonging to the Desai government hospital.

When they reached Pandavapura taluk in Karnataka on the evening of April 24, the local administration did not allow the body to enter the village but allowed the relatives to cremate it outside the village.

And since the family had come from Mumbai, the district administration quarantined all seven of the man’s relatives, and their samples were sent for testing on 28 April.

The results showed that the deceased man’s 25-year-old son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and two-year-old grandchild are positive for Covid 19. All of them have been admitted at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences although they have no symptoms.

Deputy commissioner Venkatesh said that in the Desai hospital records in Mumbai there was no mention whether or not the man had been tested for Covid-19. “We are writing to Desai hospital to clarify if the deceased person was tested for Covid 19. It is also possible that the family got infected by the man’s son who works in the loan department of ICICI Bank in Mumbai and visits several offices in different areas of Mumbai,” he said.

The man’s ancestral B Kodagalli village now has been sealed off. Though tests done on other members of the family have come back negative, the Mandya administartions plans to repeat their tests.

So far 26 people have tested positive for Covid 19 in Mandya district.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 18: The Dakshina Kannada District Karavali Utsava Samiti has chosen senior Journalist and Assistant Editor on Udayavani Daily Manohar Prasad for the Karavali Gaurava Prashasti 2019-20.

The award will be presented to Manohar Prasad in recognition of his contribution in the field of Journalism.

He will be given the award during the valedictory of the Karavali Utsav at Panambur beach on January 19.

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News Network
April 11,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 11: Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar on Saturda said that he was hopeful that the Karnataka Chief Minister would take stern action against BJP MLA M Jayaram--who was on Friday seen celebrating his birthday with several villagers in Gubbi taluk in Tumkur, in violation of social isolation measures and nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus outbreak.

"I am sure that the Chief Minister will take action on all these types of activities. We have already petitioned the DGP. Suo moto case should be registered immediately," the Karnataka Congress Chief told media.

Speaking about the video conference meeting that Congress President Sonia Gandhi held with all Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents via video conference, he said: "She has given us directions that the party has to play its own role. She said that the party needs to be very active, apart from the government."

With regards to the farmer's struggles due to the national lockdown, the Karnataka Congress Chief said that the farmers are in a 'very grim situation'. "I appeal to all the people of Karnataka that we should go to the fields and discuss with farmers and buy the materials. Let us purchase their fruits and vegetables and distribute them at the village level."

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