Israel Atrocities
Live Reporting
Columbia threatens to suspend pro-Palestinian protesters after talks fail
Columbia University’s president has said that talks with pro-Palestinian protesters over the dismantling of an encampment on the Ivy League campus have failed and urged them to voluntarily disperse or face suspension from school, Reuters reports.
Protesters have vowed to keep their encampment on the Manhattan campus until Columbia meets three demands: divestment, transparency in Columbia finances and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their part in the protests.
Protesters shared online a copy of a warning letter sent to them by the university. The letter, which the university sent in addition to the public statement, said students who did not vacate the encampment by 2pm ET (1800 GMT) and sign a form acknowledging their participation would face suspension and become ineligible to complete the semester in good standing.
40-day ceasefire offered to Hamas: UK foreign secretary
Hamas has been offered a 40-day ceasefire and the release of “potentially thousands” of Palestinian prisoners in return for freeing Israeli hostages, AFP reports British Foreign Secretary David Cameron as having said.
The Palestinian group has been given “a very generous offer of [a] sustained 40 days ceasefire, the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, in return for the release of these hostages”, Cameron told a World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh.
Paris police clear Gaza protesters at Sorbonne university
Police have moved in to clear dozens of protesters who had camped out in a courtyard at Sorbonne University in Paris to protest against the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, Reuters reports quoting a student.
“We have every reason, like in Yale, in Columbia, in Sciences Po … to condemn what we can see is happening,” the student, who only gave his name as Leonard, said at another rally outside the gates of the Sorbonne.
The university, one of the world’s oldest, closed its buildings for the day during the peaceful protests. Students chanted ‘Free Palestine’ and urged the institution to condemn Israel.
Several French politicians, including Mathilde Panot who heads the hard-left LFI group of lawmakers in the National Assembly, urged supporters on social media to join the Sorbonne protests.
Blinken promotes Gulf defence integration in sign to Israel and Iran
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for tighter defence integration among Gulf Arab states in response to Iran, part of efforts to encourage moderation by Israel by dangling the prospect of better ties with the region, AFP reports.
It is Blinken’s first trip to the region since the long shadow war between Israel and Iran broke out into the open, with tit-for-tat exchanges between the countries earlier this month.
“This attack highlights the acute and growing threat from Iran but also the imperative that we work together on integrated defence,” Blinken told Gulf Cooperation Council ministers meeting in Riyadh.
Blinken said the United States would hold talks in the coming weeks with the six-nation bloc on integrating air and missile defence and boosting maritime security.
The diplomat said that the region had a choice on its future, including “one ridden with divisions and destruction and violence and permanent instability”. Gulf Arab states, through their meeting with the United States, were choosing “greater integration” and “greater peace”, he said.
Iran slams crackdown on US student protesters
Iran has criticised a police crackdown in the United States against university students protesting the rising death toll from Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, AFP reports.
“The American government has practically ignored its human rights obligations and respect for the principles of democracy that they profess,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.
Tehran “does not at all accept the violent police and military behaviour aimed at the academic atmosphere and student demands”, he added.
US still claims diplomacy halts spread of Israel-Hamas conflict
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that diplomacy has halted regional escalation since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, including after unprecedented open clashes between Iran and Israel earlier this month.
“We did come very close to an escalation or spread of the conflict, and I think because of very focused, very determined efforts, we’ve been able to avoid it,” Blinken told a World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh.
Gaza truce or Rafah assault? Netanyahu faces dilemma
Far-right allies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are raising pressure on the embattled leader to reject a new Gaza ceasefire, jeopardising his government's stability if he backs away from an assault on Hamas in Rafah.
Hamas representatives were due in Cairo on Monday as mediators step up efforts toward a ceasefire deal ahead of a threatened Israeli storming of Rafah, an area by the Egyptian border, where around a million Palestinians displaced by Israel's military campaign elsewhere in Gaza are sheltering.
But Israel says four remaining battalions of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas are entrenched there - after over six months of war triggered by Hamas' cross-border strike on Oct. 7 - and that it will attack them after evacuating civilians.
Read More...
What are US student protesters demanding?
The protesters are calling for universities to divest from corporations that profit from Israel’s war on Gaza.
They are also demanding that universities severe academic ties and collaborations with Israeli universities and programmes.
Demonstrators want an end to US military aid to Israel. Washington provides more than $3bn annually in military aid to Israel.
They are calling for more financial transparency about university investments.
The groups are also calling for a complete ceasefire in Gaza. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed and vast swathes of Gaza flattened by Israel in nearly seven months of war.
The student organisers are seeking the release of students arrested during protests. At least 900 students have been arrested nationwide so far.
Blinken says Israel has made ‘measurable progress’ on Gaza humanitarian situation
But the US secretary of state also has urged Israel to do more.
Speaking in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, at the opening of a US-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting, Blinken said the most effective way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the Strip was to achieve a ceasefire.
While Israel has allowed more aid trucks to enter the Gaza Strip amid great international pressure, the deliveries still fall far short of what the UN says is the minimum required to address the dire situation in the besieged territory.
Hamas armed wing says it fires rockets from southern Lebanon
The Qassam Brigades says it has targeted an Israeli military position with a salvo of missiles from southern Lebanon, according to a post on its Telegram channel.
Anti-war protests at US university campuses
Students across universities in the US have been protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza for days. Here’s a quick round up:
Nearly 900 people have been arrested on US campuses since April 18, when New York police forcefully removed a pro-Palestinian protest camp at Columbia University, The Associated Press news agency has reported.
Since then, students at dozens of universities have since set up encampments calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and for their universities to cut ties with companies selling weapons to Israel.
On Saturday alone, about 275 people were arrested from protests at Northeastern University in Boston, Arizona State University in Phoenix, Indiana University at Bloomington, and Washington University in St Louis.
Those arrested included Green Party’s presidential candidate Jill Stein. She was briefly detained at a student-led protest at Washington University in Missouri.
On Sunday, students pitched a new encampment on Yale University’s campus in the northeastern state of Connecticut, a week after Yale police broke up a protest camp at the university and arrested 44 students for trespassing.
An encampment calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza was also established over the week-end at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where there have been days of protests.
Nearly 900 arrested at antiwar protests on US campuses since April 18
The Associated Press news agency says nearly 900 people have been arrested on US campuses since April 18, when New York police forcefully removed a pro-Palestinian protest camp at Columbia University.
Students at dozens universities have since set up encampments calling for an end to Israel’s war on Gaza and for their universities to cut ties with companies selling weapons to Israel.
On Saturday alone, about 275 people were arrested from protests at Northeastern University in Boston, Arizona State University in Phoenix, Indiana University at Bloomington, and Washington University in St Louis.
Faculty members at several universities have expressed their supports for students, including at universities in California, Georgia and Texas, where they adopted votes of no confidence in their leadership.
US forces take down five drones over the Red Sea
The US’s Central Command said its forces “successfully engaged five airborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) over the Red Sea” in the early hours of Monday.
The incident comes amid drone and missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Red Sea shipping.
The armed group, which controls Yemen’s capital and the most populous areas of the country, launched the campaign in response to Israel’s war on Gaza and has pledged to stop the attacks if a ceasefire is reached.
Imprisoned Palestinian writer wins top fiction prize
Palestinian author Basim Khandaqji, who has been imprisoned by Israel since 2004, has been named as the winner of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) for his novel A Mask, the Colour of the Sky.
Khandaqji’s publisher Rana Idriss, of the Lebanon-based Dar al-Adab publishing house, accepted the award on his behalf at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
The book tells the story of Nur, an archaeologist living in a Palestinian refugee camp in Ramallah, who adopts a “mask” when he finds a blue identity card belonging to an Israeli in the pocket of an old coat.
Born in Nablus, Khandaqji has been imprisoned by Israel since he was 21 years old. He studied political science at Al-Quds University from prison with a thesis on Israeli studies and has published several poetry collections and novels.
In an interview in January, Khandaqji’s brother said his family had not been able to speak with him for four months, a problem many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have faced since October 2023.
Khandaqji wrote the award-winning book in prison in 2021, when he would manage to write about two pages each day between 5am and 7am, although “very often, the papers are taken from him and destroyed by the guard”, his brother said.
Neighbour recounts rescuing girl after Israeli strike kills her family in Rafah
More on the Israeli attacks on Rafah.
A neighbour has described the attack on the Abu Taha family that killed at least five people.
“The owner of the house is a perfume salesman. He has nothing to do with any political or armed groups. All of a sudden, a barrel bomb dropped and destroyed four homes facing the house that was targeted. The residential tower is full of displaced people. A large number of those killed and wounded were from the targeted house as well as the residential building. It is a scene of massive destruction. Unarmed civilians that have nothing to do with any political groups,” the neighbour said.
He added that he rescued a girl following the attack.
“I rescued her from their balcony. She was literally hanging there,” the neighbour said. “So far, it seems she is the only survivor from her family. The only survivor from the targeted home.”
The video shows workers lowering a man on a stretcher after he was wounded in the attack. Two women and a child were among the four people killed in the bombing there.
UNRWA worker who lost both legs arrives in Qatar for treatment
A UNRWA staff member and photojournalist, who was severely injured and lost both legs in the bombardment of northern Gaza, has arrived in Qatar for treatment, the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, has said.
Abdallah “miraculously survived” his injuries but was then taken to the al-Shifa Hospital where he “witnessed the horrors of a 2-weeks long siege by the Israeli Forces”, Lazzarini said.
He was then transferred “with great difficulty” to Rafah, Lazzarini added in a post on social media.
The UNRWA chief thanked Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah Alkhater and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for helping Abdallah to “receive the lifesaving care he needs”.
The UN says that 180 UNRWA employees have been killed in Gaza since October with many more severely injured.
US senator questions if State Department is properly assessing Israeli conduct
Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, has questioned whether the Biden administration is properly assessing Israel’s compliance with international law, following a report from the Reuters news agency that some senior US officials did not find the country’s assurances credible.
“This reporting casts serious doubt on the integrity of the process in the Biden administration for reviewing whether the Netanyahu government is complying with international law in Gaza,” he said in a statement.
The Reuters report found that some senior State Department officials have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that they do not find “credible or reliable” Israel’s assurances that it is using US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Blinken must tell Congress by May 8 whether he finds Israel’s assurances credible. According to an internal State Department memo, several bureaus within the agency did not find Israel’s statements credible, citing military actions that raised questions about potential violations of international humanitarian law.
Van Hollen said the Reuters report had found that the recommendations of those bureaus “were swept aside for political convenience”.
“The determination regarding compliance with international law is one of fact and law. The facts and law should not be ignored to achieve a pre-determined policy outcome. Our credibility is on the line,” he said.
Air of permanence at George Washington University antiwar protest
First of all, we have tents in the courtyard now – they’ve been there since early on Thursday morning. There are probably about a dozen students there.
People have been staying overnight and there’s a food tent. Local businesses have been bringing food, drinks and snacks for the people who are here. All of that has created an atmosphere that suggests people are not about to leave.
There’s no threat from the police, either. We’re told that the university, on Friday morning wanted the Metropolitan Police – the main police service in Washington, DC – to clear the courtyard after they were called in.
If you go back to 2020, it was the Metropolitan Police that cleared Lafayette Square of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters so that Donald Trump could have a photo op in the church nearby. The Metropolitan Police were absolutely hammered globally and there was outrage locally that they would do this.
So, the optics of moving into a university courtyard to move young people who were peacefully protesting was not something the Metropolitan Police wanted. That is why, to a degree, the people in this square feel slightly safer. And that’s why there’s an air of permanence about this encampment.
Israeli attacks kill seven, including children, in Gaza City
Israeli warplanes have bombed two homes in northern Gaza City, killing at least seven people, including women and children, the Wafa news agency reports.
The first attack on a home in the western part of the city killed five people, including children and women, and wounded dozens, the agency said.
A second attack on a home in the Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, killed two more women, with several people still missing, presumed to be under the rubble.
Palestinians who fled Israel’s siege of Gaza City, in the north of the Strip, have been returning home in recent weeks as Israel continues to bombard areas it previously told people to evacuate to.
Israeli gov’t received indications ICC could issue arrest warrant for Netanyahu, ministers: Report
The Israeli government has received indications from senior legal officials that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor is considering issuing arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including PM Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a report by Israel’s Channel 12.
The ICC is currently investigating Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In addition to Netanyahu, these investigations could lead to arrest warrants being issued for Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.
The Israeli newspaper Maariv also reported that Netanyahu is “frightened and unusually stressed” by the possibility of an ICC arrest warrant.
On Friday, Netanyahu posted on X that under his leadership, “Israel will never accept any attempt by the ICC to undermine its inherent right of self-defense”.
The ICC case is separate from several ongoing cases against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), including one brought by South Africa that alleges that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in its continuing war on Gaza.
The ICJ was created to resolve conflicts between states; the ICC prosecutes individuals for crimes.
Pro-Palestinian protests keep roiling US college campuses
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pro-Palestinian protests at US universities showed no sign of slowing as they spread coast to coast over the weekend and police crackdowns and arrests continued into another week while students vowed to stay in tent encampments until their demands are met.
The students' demands range from a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas to calls for universities to stop investing in Israeli enterprises involved with the country's military to an end for US military assistance for Israel.
Biden reiterated position on Rafah in Netanyahu call, says White House
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday (Apr 28) with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and "reiterated his clear position" on a possible invasion of the Gaza border city of Rafah, the White House said.
A statement issued by the White House did not give more details of that part of the conversation. Washington has said that it could not support a Rafah operation without an appropriate and credible humanitarian plan.
Hamas delegation to visit Cairo today (Monday) for ceasefire talks
A Hamas official has told Reuters news agency that the delegation will discuss a ceasefire proposal handed by the group to mediators from Qatar and Egypt, as well as Israel’s response.
Another senior Hamas official said the delegation will fly to Cairo from Doha, adding it will be led by Khalil Al-Hayya, deputy to Hamas’s Gaza chief.
The talks will take place between the Hamas delegation and the Qatari and the Egyptian mediators to discuss remarks the group has made over the Israeli response to its recent proposal.
Gaza truce effort builds with Hamas to respond to Israel proposal
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Diplomatic efforts intensified on Sunday to reach a long-sought truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza, as Hamas said it would travel to mediator Egypt to deliver its response after Israel's latest proposal.
The Israeli government has come under intense pressure from its global allies to reach a ceasefire, as well as from protesters within Israel demanding the release of hostages seized by Hamas militants during their October 7 attack that triggered the war.
Push for truce ramps up as Israel pummels Gaza
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Diplomatic efforts increased on Sunday (Apr 28) to reach a long sought-after truce and hostage-release deal in Gaza, as Israel carried out further air strikes and shelling on the war-battered territory.
A new video of two hostages being held by Hamas militants since the group's Oct 7 attack prompted fresh outrage in Israel, where protesters have piled pressure on the government to reach a deal.
