Israel under pressure to let more aid into Gaza as hostage talks continue

Antony Blinken holds two-hour meeting with Netanyahu while Hamas considers ceasefire proposal

Israel’s leaders were under renewed pressure to allow more aid into Gaza on Wednesday after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, told Benjamin Netanyahu to “accelerate and sustain improvements” seen during recent days in the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching the territory.

Humanitarian agencies say that though the number of lorries entering Gaza after being vetted by Israel has increased significantly, these still deliver only a fraction of what is needed.

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Middle East crisis: Jordan says some Israeli settlers attacked aid convoys on way to Gaza – as it happened

Two convoys on the way to Gaza attacked by some Israeli settlers, reports Jordan’s state news agency

Reporting for Al Jazeera from Rafah, Tareq Abu Azzoum has said that Israel appears to have “ramped up airstrikes and land bombardment”. He writes for the news network:

Israeli artillery units have been relentlessly pounding the Nuseirat refugee camp – in the northern part of that densely populated area – where thousands of Palestinians are. They have also been taking a systematic approach to destroying residential buildings in al-Mughraqa.

Here in Rafah in the south, the situation is also dire. A number of houses were attacked, with two Palestinian children killed. The children arrived at the Kuwaiti hospital alive, but they succumbed to their wounds.

You have to hear this to believe this. The international criminal court in The Hague is contemplating issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli government and military officials as war criminals.

This would be an outrage of historic proportions. International bodies like the ICC arose in the wake of the Holocaust committed against the Jewish people. They were set up to prevent such horrors, to prevent future genocides.

This ICC attempt is an attempt to paralyze Israel’s very ability to defend itself. The government and people of Israel reject outright this grave threat to our security, this grave threat to our very existence.

And I want to assure you, no ICC action will impact Israel’s ironclad determination to achieve the goals of our war with Hamas terrorists. We will destroy Hamas’ military and governing capabilities in Gaza. We will release all our hostages. And we will ensure that Gaza never poses a threat to Israel again.

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Top New York prosecutor to hold press conference after mass arrests; California governor condemns UCLA violence – live

Alvin Bragg to speak to reporters after about 300 people were arrested; Gavin Newsom says, ‘The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence’

The occupation of Hamilton Hall came after protesters’ defied a 2pm Monday deadline to abandon their camp at Columbia or face suspension. The university promptly began suspending participating students.

Posts on an Instagram page for protest organisers shortly after midnight urged people to protect the encampment on campus and join them at Hamilton Hall. Those signs of supports surfaced as the UN human rights chief said he was “troubled” by how law enforcement has dealt with the recent wave of campus demonstrations.

A little after 9 p.m. this evening, the NYPD arrived on campus at the University’s request. This decision was made to restore safety and order to our community.

After the University learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalized, and blockaded, we were left with no choice. Columbia public safety personnel were forced out of the building, and a member of our facilities team was threatened. We will not risk the safety of our community or the potential for further escalation.

The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing. We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law.”

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Dozens arrested at Columbia University as New York police disperse Gaza protest

NYPD enters campus Tuesday evening to clear out academic building taken over by protesters earlier in the day

Hundreds of New York City police officers entered Columbia University on Tuesday evening to clear an academic building taken over by pro-Palestinian students the day before, as tensions surrounding the students’ campus encampment for Gaza have roiled the New York school for two weeks.

Live video images showed police in riot gear marching onto the upper Manhattan campus, the focal point of nationwide student protests opposing Israel’s war in Gaza.

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Paris regional leader suspends Sciences Po funding over Gaza protests

French left denounces rightwinger Valérie Pécresse’s move against prestigious university

The Paris regional authority has temporarily suspending funding for Sciences Po, one of France’s most prestigious universities, after it was rocked by pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

“I have decided to suspend all regional funding for Sciences Po until calm and security have been restored at the school,” Valérie Pécresse, the rightwing head of the greater Paris Île-de-France region, said on social media on Monday.

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Middle East crisis: ‘not easy to see’ how Israeli offensive on Rafah could be compliant with international law, says UK minister – as it happened

British government doing everything it can to prevent assault on Rafah while civilians shelter there, says deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell

Al Jazeera is carrying a quote from Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan. It quotes him saying:

It’s clear from the Israeli paper that they are still insisting on two major issue: they don’t want a complete ceasefire and they are not talking – in a serious way – about the withdrawal from Gaza. In fact, they are still talking about their presence, which means they will continue to occupy Gaza. We have serious questions for the mediators. If there are positive answers, I think we can move forward.

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Police enter Columbia in apparent bid to break up student occupation

Images on TV show police on campus in New York after students take over Hamilton Hall building amid continuing protests

New York City police entered Columbia University on Tuesday evening in a reported effort to disperse the students who took over an academic building – and are facing expulsion – earlier in the day and those who have been encamped on school property for two weeks as tensions surrounding the pro-Palestinian demonstration escalated.

TV images showed police entering the elite university in upper Manhattan, which has been the focal point of student protests that have spread to dozens of schools across the US.

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Children in Gaza underplaying their pain due to extent of trauma around them, say doctors

Observation was made by medics contributing a new pain management manual for treating children in conflict zones

Children being treated in Gaza’s hospitals are “underplaying” pain because it “seems trivial” in the context of the wider conflict, doctors have said.

International medics met in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday to discuss plans for a new trauma pain management manual to support professionals treating children in Gaza and other conflict zones.

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ICC urged to delay possible war crimes charges against Israel and Hamas

G7 diplomats argue any move now in investigation launched in 2021 could disrupt current ceasefire talks

Diplomats from the G7 industrialised nations have urged officials at the international criminal court not to announce war crimes charges against Israel or Hamas officials, amid concerns that such a move could disrupt the chances of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks.

Israeli politicians including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have suggested that the ICC could press charges imminently after an investigation launched in 2021 that covers events starting in 2014. The inquiry has also been looking at Israel’s construction of settlements in occupied territory.

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Columbia issues ultimatum to clear pro-Palestine protest or risk suspension

Talks aimed at having encampment removed voluntarily break down as president insists school won’t bow to divestment demands

Pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University have been given an ultimatum to abandon their encampment or risk suspension, after the breakdown of talks aimed at having it removed voluntarily.

The ultimatum, setting a Monday deadline of 2pm, came after the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, announced that efforts to reach a compromise with protest organisers had failed. She insisted that the institution would not bow to demands to divest from Israel.

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David Cameron urges Hamas to agree to 40-day Gaza ceasefire deal

Foreign secretary also calls on Arab states to accept that Hamas leaders responsible for 7 October attack must leave the territory

David Cameron has urged Hamas to agree to a deal for a sustained 40-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of potentially thousands of hostages and prisoners.

The foreign secretary also challenged Arab states to accept that the Hamas military leadership responsible for the attack on 7 October must leave Gaza.

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Blinken urges Hamas to accept ‘extraordinarily generous’ Israeli ceasefire deal

US secretary of state says Hamas is the ‘only thing standing between people of Gaza and ceasefire’

The US secretary of state has said that “the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire” is Hamas, ahead of what are seen as last-chance talks to salvage a diplomatic solution before a threatened Israeli ground invasion in Rafah.

Speaking at a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday, Antony Blinken said: “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel.

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US military releases images of aid pier under construction off Gaza coast

Pictures released by US central command come after satellite photos showed US navy ship offshore with floating platform being built alongside it

The US military has released pictures it says show that a pier to help bring more aid into the besieged Gaza Strip is now under construction.

The images show what appears to be a large metal construction with workers in military uniform dotted along the floating platforms.

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Iran’s death sentence for rapper sparks protests and undermines criticism of US

Regime’s effort to exploit US campus crackdown damaged by treatment of Toomaj Salehi

An Iranian court’s decision to pass the death sentence against Toomaj Salehi, a popular Iranian rapper and regime opponent, has led to international protests and damaged Iran’s fledgling efforts to exploit crackdowns on unrest in US university campuses over Gaza as an abuse of human rights.

Crowds gathered in the US, Europe and Canada on Sunday to support Salehi, while dozens of political prisoners in Iran’s Ghezel Hesar prison issued a statement condemning the death sentence, calling it “the culmination of gross human rights violations in Iran”. Salehi has also won the support of major US rappers, as well as human rights groups.

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Echoes of Vietnam era as pro-Palestinian student protests roil US campuses

Calls for divestment continue despite hundreds of arrests, with more demonstrations planned for Democratic national convention

Student protests on US university campuses over Israel’s war on Gaza showed little sign of letting up over the weekend, with protesters vowing to continue until their demands for US educational bodies to disentangle from companies profiting from the conflict are met.

In what is perhaps the most significant student movement since the anti-Vietnam campus protests of the late 1960s, the conflict between pro-Palestinian students and university administrators has revealed an entire subset of conflicts.

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Biden and Netanyahu speak as pressure grows on Israel over Rafah and ceasefire talks

US president and Israeli PM talk as Israel vows to invade Gaza city despite global concern for 1 million Palestinians sheltering there

The White House on Sunday said Joe Biden had again spoken with Benjamin Netanyahu as pressure builds on Israel and Hamas to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a ceasefire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza.

There were no immediate details of the conversation, which took place as Israel vows to invade Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah despite global concern for more than 1 million Palestinians sheltering there. The US secretary of state is returning to the Middle East on Monday.

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Antony Blinken to visit Saudi Arabia to try to restart Gaza ceasefire talks

US secretary of state to discuss avoiding regional conflict amid fears about Israeli ground invasion of Rafah

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will travel to Saudi Arabia to try to restart fraught ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel and discuss efforts to prevent spiralling regional conflict, while other senior US officials claimed Israel was willing to listen to their fears about a ground invasion of Gaza’s southernmost city.

A delegation from Hamas, expected in Cairo in parallel to Blinken’s visit, said they would provide a response to an Israeli proposal focused on an initial hostage release.

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‘Do not bow’: ex-Black Panther praises pro-Palestinian student protesters from prison

Mumia Abu-Jamal tells New York City students they’re on the right side of history by deciding ‘not to be silent and to speak out’

In a powerful and rousing live address to students at the City University of New York (CUNY) on Friday night, the incarcerated Black political activist Mumia Abu-Jamal praised the pro-Palestinian movement growing at US colleges as being on the right side of history.

“It is a wonderful thing that you have decided not to be silent and decided to speak out against the repression that you see with your own eyes,” Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, said while calling from Pennsylvania’s Mahanoy state prison. “You are part of something massive, and you are part of something that is on the right side of history.

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Middle East crisis: Israel has agreed to listen to US concerns before any Rafah invasion, says White House – as it happened

Israel has started to meet commitments it made to Joe Biden on allowing aid into the north of Gaza, says White House national security spokesperson

The Gaza health ministry on Sunday reported at least 66 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours.

In central Gaza, Mohammed al-Hattab said he found his one-year-old baby in the rubble after an Israeli airstrike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp over the weekend.

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‘We are showing the world what people do’: grim relics of Hamas attack go on display in New York

Tents, debris and personal items from the Nova festival, where 364 people died on 7 October, form shocking exhibit on Wall Street

While New York was preoccupied with student protests over the US’s ­support of Israel’s war in Gaza last week, another aspect of how the city with the largest Jewish population outside Israel is coming to terms with bloodshed in the Middle East was being prepared.

On Wall Street, a gruelling ­exhibition has opened detailing the horrific attack on the Nova music festival by Hamas terrorists on 7 October, in which 364 people were murdered, many wounded and 44 taken hostage.

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