WASHINGTON: Israel’s call for more than 1 million civilians in northern Gaza to move within 24 hours is going to be a “tall order,” although the United States was not second-guessing the decision, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Friday.
“That is a lot of people to move in a very short period of time,” Kirby said in an interview on MSNBC.
“We understand what they’re trying to do and why they’re trying to do this — to try to isolate the civilian population from Hamas, which is their real target,” he added.
Kirby said US officials are working with Israel and Egypt on getting safe passage for civilians living in Gaza, home to 2.3 million people in one of the most crowded places on Earth.
“Obviously, we don’t want to see any civilians hurt,” he said later on CNN. “We do support safe passage out of Gaza, and certainly that includes the ability for people to move safely inside Gaza.
“These Palestinian people, they’re victims, too. They didn’t ask for this. They didn’t invite Hamas in and say, you know, ‘Go hit Israel.’“
Kirby said he could not confirm Hamas’ assertion that 13 captives were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the last 24 hours.
White House: Israel’s call to move Gaza civilians is “a tall order”
https://arab.news/zwr9c
White House: Israel’s call to move Gaza civilians is “a tall order”
- “That is a lot of people to move in a very short period of time,” Kirby said in an interview on MSNBC
- “Obviously, we don’t want to see any civilians hurt,” he said later on CNN
Second doctor in Matthew Perry overdose case sentenced to home confinement
- Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October
- Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service
LOS ANGELES: A second California doctor was sentenced on Tuesday to eight months of home confinement for illegally supplying “Friends” star Matthew Perry with ketamine, the powerful sedative that caused the actor’s fatal drug overdose in a hot tub in 2023.
Dr. Mark Chavez, 55, a onetime San Diego-based physician, pleaded guilty in federal court in October to a single felony count of conspiracy to distribute the prescription anesthetic and surrendered his medical license in November.
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett also sentenced Chavez to 300 hours of community service. As part of his plea agreement, Chavez admitted to selling ketamine to another physician Dr. Salvador Plasencia, 44, who in turn supplied the drug to Perry, though not the dose that ultimately killed the performer. Plasencia, who pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful drug distribution, was sentenced earlier this month to 2 1/2 years behind bars.
He and Chavez were the first two of five people convicted in connection with Perry’s ketamine-induced death to be sent off to prison.
The three others scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks — Jasveen Sangha, 42, a drug dealer known as the “Ketamine Queen;” a go-between dealer Erik Fleming, 56; and Perry’s former personal assistant, Iwamasa, 60.
Sangha admitted to supplying the ketamine dose that killed Perry, and Iwamasa acknowledged injecting Perry with it. It was Iwamasa who later found Perry, aged 54, face down and lifeless, in the jacuzzi of his Los Angeles home on October 28, 2023.
An autopsy report concluded the actor died from the acute effects of ketamine,” which combined with other factors in causing him to lose consciousness and drown.
Perry had publicly acknowledged decades of substance abuse, including the years he starred as Chandler Bing on the hit 1990s NBC television series “Friends.”
According to federal law enforcement officials, Perry had been receiving ketamine infusions for treatment of depression and anxiety at a clinic where he became addicted to the drug.
When doctors there refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous providers elsewhere willing to exploit Perry’s drug dependency as a way to make quick money, authorities said. Ketamine is a short-acting anesthetic with hallucinogenic properties that is sometimes prescribed to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders. It also has seen widespread abuse as an illicit party drug.
