Closing summary
It is 6pm in Gaza and in Tel Aviv. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
Here is a recap of the latest developments:
A UN agency said on Thursday that rebuilding Gaza will cost an estimated $30bn to $40bn and require an effort on a scale unseen since the second world war. “The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented,” UN assistant secretary general Abdallah al-Dardari told a press conference in Amman, Jordan.
Hamas confirmed that the group will visit Egypt for further ceasefire talks in the Gaza war. A statement by the group added that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had affirmed the group’s “positive spirit in studying the ceasefire proposal” in a phone call with Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Speaking to Reuters, a Palestinian official close to the mediation said the Hamas delegation’s visit could take place in the next two days.
Israel’s president on Thursday criticised US universities for campus unrest over Israel’s war in Gaza, saying these institutions were “contaminated by hatred and antisemitism”. Isaac Herzog said in a special broadcast that he was issuing an urgent message of support to Jewish communities amid a “dramatic resurgence in antisemitism and following the hostilities and intimidation against Jewish students on campuses across the US in particular”.
Israel’s war cabinet will meet at 6.30pm [3.30pm GMT] tonight to discuss “the next steps in negotiations to achieve a hostage deal”. The full security cabinet will meet afterwards. Earlier this week, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would launch a ground operation in Rafah regardless of whether there was a deal or not.
A senior Hamas official overnight has told the AFP news agency that at the moment the group’s response to the proposed truce deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar was “negative”, but that discussions were still under way. The official said Hamas “cannot under any circumstances raise the white flag or surrender to the conditions of the Israeli enemy.”
The outline of the hostage release programme that has been proposed is believed to be a 40 day pause in fighting while initially female hostages are released in batches of three every three days in return for Palestinian detainees. Hamas and other groups are believed to have seized and abducted about 250 people on 7 October from inside southern Israel, with 133 of them thought still held captive, not all of whom are believed to be alive.
At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, according to new figures released by the Hamas-led health ministry. During the same period 474 Palestinians including 116 children, have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem by either Israeli security forces or settlers. Israel says 263 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since it launched its ground offensive. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Two people have been arrested after shouting verbal abuse and throwing stones and eggs at a demonstration being held by relatives of those held hostage in Gaza which was attempting to block a highway in Tel Aviv.
More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools in the US in the last couple of weeks during the protests about the Israel-Gaza conflict. You can follow our live coverage of that here.
Paris’s Sciences Po university has rejected demands by protesters to review its relations with Israeli universities, its interim director Jean Bassères said on Thursday, prompting some students to say they would start a hunger strike in protest. “I clearly refused to set up a working group on our relations with Israeli universities and partner companies,” Bassères told reporters after a townhall meeting with students and staff. Dozens of students promptly started a sit-in inside the university to protest Bassères decision.
The EU has offered Lebanon a financial package of €1bn (£855m / $1.07bn) which among other measures includes supporting Lebanon’s armed forces with equipment and training for border management.
Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has issued a statement after speaking to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell. He said there was a “need to end the Israeli regime’s crimes and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, without delay and precondition”.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Thursday that the first baby has been born after the reopening of the maternity ward at the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis. The child is named Muhammad Luay al-Raqab.
The risk of exposure to unexploded ordnance in Gaza is at its “most dangerous stage”, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has warned. Highlighting the warning in its flash update, the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), reported that a 14-year-old boy was seriously injured and had to undergo limb amputations after opening a booby-trapped can of food in Khan Younis.
Organisers of the Eurovision song contest in Sweden have said they will not allow people to bring in or display Palestinian flags at the event, in which Israel is competing.
A British police officer pleaded guilty on Thursday to terror charges for showing support on social media for Hamas, which is designated a terror group and banned in the UK. The West Yorkshire constable admitted sharing two images on WhatsApp supporting the group three weeks after the 7 October attack.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that several Palestinian civilians were killed on Thursday morning by Israeli airstrikes which targeted residential buildings and also the “lands and tents of the displaced people east of the city of Rafah”. It reported that “six citizens were killed in an Israeli bombing of the city of Al-Zahraa, north of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip” and that one person was killed near Khan Younis, and two were killed when Israel bombed “a residential building owned by Ishteiwi family in Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City” where it said “a number of missing people are still under the rubble.” The claims have not been independently verified.
UN estimates rebuilding Gaza will cost $30bn to $40bn
A UN agency said on Thursday that rebuilding Gaza will cost an estimated $30bn to $40bn and require an effort on a scale unseen since the second world war, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“The United Nations Development Programme’s initial estimates for the reconstruction of … the Gaza Strip surpass $30bn and could reach up to $40bn,” said UN assistant secretary general Abdallah al-Dardari.
“The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented … This is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since the second world war,” Dardari told a press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.
According to AFP, he added that if Gaza’s reconstruction were to be carried out through the normal process, “it could take decades, and the Palestinian people do not have the luxury of waiting for decades”.
He told the press conference:
It is therefore important that we act quickly to re-house people in decent housing and restore their lives to normal – economically, socially, in terms of health and education.
This is our top priority, and it must be achieved within the first three years following the cessation of hostilities.”
He estimated the total rubble from bombardment and explosions at 37m tonnes.
“We are talking about a colossal figure, and this figure is increasing every day,” he said. “The latest data indicates that it is already approaching 40m tonnes.”
The UN official also said “72% of all residential buildings have been completely or partially destroyed”.
“Reconstruction must be planned carefully, efficiently and with extreme flexibility because we do not know how the war will end” and what type of postwar governance will be established in the Gaza Strip, he added.
Updated
Paris’s Sciences Po university has rejected demands by protesters to review its relations with Israeli universities, its interim director Jean Bassères said on Thursday, prompting some students to say they would start a hunger strike in protest, reports Reuters.
Students at several French universities, including Sciences Po and Sorbonne University have blocked or occupied their institutes over the war in Gaza, although not on the same scale as seen in the US.
“I clearly refused to set up a working group on our relations with Israeli universities and partner companies,” Bassères told reporters after a townhall meeting with students and staff. Dozens of students promptly started a sit-in inside the university to protest Bassères decision.
“A first student has started a hunger strike, in solidarity with Palestinian victims, but even more so to protest against the way Sciences Po is repressing students who want to show their support for Palestine,” said Hicham, a student at Sciences Po and one of the pro-Palestinian protesters there.
More students would join the hunger strike, he told reporters, demanding that the university’s leadership agrees for its board to hold a public vote on reviewing partnerships with Israeli universities.
According to Reuters, the townhall was one of the conditions set last week for Sciences Po students to call off their protests over war in Gaza. Many had also asked the university to cut all ties with Israel.
Bassères said he was aware that refusing to put together a working group to review relations with Israel could anger some protesters. “I’m calling on all to show a sense of responsibility,” he said, urging protesters not to disrupt exams set to start next week.
The elite political sciences university would work on how best to organise internal debate on contentious topics, he said, adding that the university already had rules to review its partnerships.
“The last ties that should be severed are the ones between universities,” said Arancha González, who heads Sciences Po’s School of International Affairs.
Hamas delegation to visit Egypt soon for further Gaza ceasefire talks
Further to the report by the Times of Israel earlier [see 13.02 BST], Reuters have more details on a Hamas delegation visiting Cairo soon for further Gaza ceasefire talks.
According to the news agency, a statement on Thursday from Hamas confirmed that the group will visit Egypt for further ceasefire talks in the Gaza war. The statement added that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had affirmed the group’s “positive spirit in studying the ceasefire proposal” in a phone call with Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.
Hamas said on Saturday that it had received Israel’s latest position would study it before submitting a reply.
According to Reuters, the Egyptian state-affiliated Al-Qahera News quoted an unidentified high-level Egyptian source as saying that the Hamas delegation would arrive in Cairo in the next two days.
Speaking to Reuters, a Palestinian official close to the mediation also said the Hamas delegation’s visit could take place in the next two days.
Hamas’s statement added that the negotiations to be held in Cairo aim to “mature a deal that achieves the demands of our people and ends the aggression.”
Israel’s president on Thursday criticised US universities for campus unrest over Israel’s war in Gaza, saying these institutions were “contaminated by hatred and antisemitism”.
Isaac Herzog said in a special broadcast that he was issuing an urgent message of support to Jewish communities amid a “dramatic resurgence in antisemitism and following the hostilities and intimidation against Jewish students on campuses across the US in particular” reports AFP.
My colleague Gloria Oladipo is following the US campus protests live on a separate live blog, which you can find here.
A British police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to terror charges for showing support on social media for Hamas, which is designated a terror group and banned in the UK.
The West Yorkshire constable admitted sharing two images on WhatsApp supporting the group three weeks after the 7 October attack. He was released on bail, and will be sentenced on 4 June.
Emanuel Fabian, military correspondent at the Times of Israel, reports that Israeli security forces have removed the remains of another intercepted Iranian missile that fell on to open ground after being struck during Tehran’s unprecedented state-on-state attack on Israel in April.
The Israeli military removed the remains of another intercepted Iranian ballistic missile found by hikers at the Ye'elim stream, close to Arad, in southern Israel.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) May 2, 2024
The missile was one of 120 fired at Israel in the Iranian attack on April 14.
The remains were lifted out of the… pic.twitter.com/IZo5XzKyTC
Muhammad Luay al-Raqab is the first baby to be born after the reopening of the maternity ward at the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, said the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) on Thursday.
The baby Muhammad Luay Al-Raqab is the first birth case after the reopening of the maternity ward at the PRCS Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis. #AlAmalHospital #Gaza pic.twitter.com/EegpSwKMkG
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) May 2, 2024
In late January, the PRCS said Israeli tanks had surrounded the, al-Amal hospital, which is the headquarters of the rescue agency. At the time, an Israeli military spokesperson denied its forces were storming the hospital in southern Gaza.
Here are some of the latest images on the newswires:
The Times of Israel, citing a Saudi Asharq newspaper article, reports that Egypt will invite Israeli and Hamas delegations to Cairo “to try to bridge gaps over a hostage release deal”.
The risk of exposure to unexploded ordnance in Gaza is at its “most dangerous stage”, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has warned.
Highlighting the warning in its flash update, the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), reported that a 14-year-old boy was seriously injured and had to undergo limb amputations after opening a booby-trapped can of food.
Citing information shared by the Government Media Office (GMO) on 29 April, OCHA said that the can was found while the boy looked for belongings in his house in Khan Younis after it had been shelled by Israeli forces.
The OCHA writes:
The GMO indicated that many people have been recently injured due to the explosion of booby-trapped canned goods, urging the population to exercise maximum care.
Based on UN estimates of unexploded munitions, the GMO assessed that around 7,500 tons of unexploded ordnance (UXO) might be scattered throughout Gaza, appealing for assistance by the international community to remove explosive remnants of war (ERW) and mitigate the risk for civilians.
#Gaza:
— UN Humanitarian (@UNOCHA) May 1, 2024
⚠️ Streets and public spaces are littered with explosive remnants of war, posing health and safety issues.
⚠️ The risk of exposure to unexploded ordnance is at its “most dangerous stage,” warns @UNMAS.
⚠️ Over 10K people are estimated to be missing under rubble.
More ⬇️
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Israel’s war cabinet will meet at 6.30pm [3.30pm GMT] tonight to discuss “the next steps in negotiations to achieve a hostage deal”. The full security cabinet will meet afterwards. Earlier this week, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would launch a ground operation in Rafah regardless of whether there was a deal or not.
A senior Hamas official overnight has told the AFP news agency that at the moment the group’s response to the proposed truce deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar was “negative”, but that discussions were still under way. The official said Hamas “cannot under any circumstances raise the white flag or surrender to the conditions of the Israeli enemy.”
The outline of the hostage release programme that has been proposed is believed to be a 40 day pause in fighting while initially female hostages are released in batches of three every three days in return for Palestinian detainees. Hamas and other groups are believed to have seized and abducted about 250 people on 7 October from inside southern Israel, with 133 of them thought still held captive, not all of whom are believed to be alive.
At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, according to new figures released by the Hamas-led health ministry. During the same period 474 Palestinians including 116 children, have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem by either Israeli security forces or settlers. Israel says 263 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since it launched its ground offensive. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Two people have been arrested after shouting verbal abuse and throwing stones and eggs at a demonstration being held by relatives of those held hostage in Gaza which was attempting to block a highway in Tel Aviv.
More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools in the US in the last couple of weeks during the protests about the Israel-Gaza conflict. You can follow our live coverage of that here.
The EU has offered Lebanon a financial package of €1bn (£855m / $1.07bn) which among other measures includes supporting Lebanon’s armed forces with equipment and training for border management.
Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has issued a statement after speaking to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell. He said there was a “need to end the Israeli regime’s crimes and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, without delay and precondition.”
Organisers of the Eurovision song contest in Sweden have said they will not allow people to bring in or display Palestinian flags at the event, in which Israel is competing.
International Rescue Committee UK has joined calls for the UK government to embargo arms sales to Israel. In a statement it said:
Israel’s ceaseless bombardment of Gaza is the most intense use of explosive weapons in a densely populated area this century. This, alongside the siege, has created an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, rendering Gaza nearly uninhabitable and depriving almost all of the population – millions of people – of essential food, clean water, and healthcare for six months.
An estimated 45,000 bombs were dropped on Gaza’s population in the first 89 days of conflict alone … relentless Israeli bombardment has also severely inhibited the ability of humanitarian actors to provide lifesaving aid to Palestinians in desperate need in Gaza.
IRC UK is joining over 250 organisations to urge the UK Government to immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts and ammunition where there is a risk they may facilitate violations of international humanitarian law. In addition, the UK Government must leverage all its influence to achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and secure the release of all hostages.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have had a phone call today.
“They spoke about efforts to release all hostages held by Hamas and about a ceasefire. Further improvements to humanitarian aid for the people in the Gaza Strip were also discussed,” Reuters reports a government spokesperson said in a statement.
Helena Smith is in Athens for the Guardian, with more details on the EU financial package for Lebanon:
Officials in Cyprus, who have pushed hard for an economic support package to be given to Lebanon, believe the financial aid will help the tiny country better manage migration, at a time when increased Middle East tensions have limited the ability of local authorities to curb flows.
The Mediterranean island, the EU’s easternmost member, has seen an unprecedented uptick in the arrival of boatloads of Syrians from Lebanon, with Nicosia appealing to Brussels for help.
Cyprus’ government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis said the economic aid package presented by European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen earlier today [See 10.05 BST] was “an initiative of president Christodoulides and the Republic of Cyprus and is a practical demonstration of the active role that the EU can play in the region.”
Israel's war cabinet to meet tonight to discuss ceasefire and hostage deal
The Times of Israel is reporting that Israel’s war cabinet will meet at 6.30pm tonight to discuss “the next steps in negotiations to achieve a hostage deal”.
It reports the full security cabinet will meet afterwards. The war cabinet consists of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defense minister Yoav Gallant, and minister without portfolio Benny Gantz.
There are also three non-voting observer members of the war cabinet, former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot, minister for strategic affairs Ron Dermer, and the leader of Israel’s ultra-orthodox Shas party Aryeh Deri.
Still on Eurovision for a moment, Associated Press has announced that Palestinian flags will be banned from the event.
Michelle Roverelli, the head of communications for the European Broadcasting Union that runs the show each year, said ticket buyers are only allowed to bring and display flags that represent countries that take part in the event, as well as the rainbow-colored flag.
The Geneva-based EBU reserves the right “to remove any other flags or symbols, clothing, items and banners being used for the likely purpose of instrumentalizing the TV shows,” she told the Associated Press in a text message.
Reuters has spoken to Felix Krausz Sjögren, a guide at the synagogue in Malmö in Sweden, where the Eurovision song contest is being held next week. He told the news agency he was anxious about protests taking place because of Israel’s participation. He told them:
There’s a certain feeling of apprehension, of tension. I can’t say that I’m not worried. With Israel being in the Eurovision, the emotions will be even more heightened, and maybe the synagogue will be a target of protests. It’s not unthinkable.
Sjögren says he is nervous about wearing his Jewish kippah in public. “I probably wouldn’t do that during Eurovision week. I would be on the safe side and make sure to have something to cover it with.”
He said the Jewish community often invites school classes to the synagogue, and “If we have a class with many Muslim kids visiting, we often find that we have a lot in common. We have seen very positive encounters here. Eurovision will, of course, not be of help in that sense, but it will pass and then we’ll continue with our lives.”
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the contest, has refused calls for Israel to be banned from taking part for its actions in Gaza, in a similar way that Russia was banned for its invasion of fellow competitor Ukraine.
Israel’s song has, though, been rewritten at the EBU’s request, with its original title October Rain changed to Hurricane, as it was deemed to be a direct political reference to the Hamas assault inside southern Israel on 7 October.
Our community team would like to hear from students on US campuses, and those in the UK and other countries in Europe attending universities where demonstrations are taking place. They would like to hear from those who are participating as well as those who are not.
For those in the US, you can contact them via this page.
For those in Europe and the UK, you can contact them here.
EU announces €1bn funding for Lebanon including training support to troops for 'border management' amid Israel-Hezbollah clashes
The EU has offered Lebanon a financial package of €1bn (£855m / $1.07bn), European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in Beirut on Thursday.
The funds would be available from this year until 2027, von der Leyen told a joint news conference with Lebanon’s prime minister Najib Mikati and Cypriot president Nikos Christodoulides.
Reuters reports she also said the EU would support Lebanon’s armed forces with equipment and training for border management.
In a post to social media about the development, she said “Lebanon and its people can count on the EU’s sustained support” and that the €1bn package will “contribute to the country’s socioeconomic resilience and its overall security and stability.”
The European Commission said in a statement:
This continued EU support will strengthen basic services such as education, social protection and health for the people in Lebanon. It will accompany urgent economic, financial and banking reforms. Furthermore, support will be provided to the Lebanese armed forces and other security forces with equipment and training for border management and to fight against smuggling.
Yesterday, in an unscheduled stop in Egypt, France’s foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné stressed that a French proposal for preventing escalation between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah should be high on the agenda in case a Gaza truce comes into effect.
Israel and anti-Israeli forces have repeatedly exchanged fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon. Israeli troops have been injured on at least one occasion while skirmishing inside Lebanon, and Hezbollah has targeted Israel military facilities inside northern Israel with rockets. Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the boundary have been displaced by the fighting. The clashes, however, mostly paused last time there was a ceasefire in Gaza, despite Hezbollah not being a direct party to any agreement.
Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, has issued a statement after speaking to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell. He said:
In a phone call with Josep Borrell, we discussed Iran-EU relations and regional issues. I stressed the need to end the Israeli regime’s crimes and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, without delay and precondition.
In this context, the UN should play a central role in intensified regional and international efforts, taking into account the rights of Palestinians.
Noting the constructive contributions by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to regional security and in countering terrorism, I urged the EU to respect Iran’s armed forces. I reiterated that Iran’s military operation in response to the Israel’s attack against Iran’s embassy in Damascus, was legitimate self-defence.
I welcomed the continued dialogue between Iran and EU in furthering cooperation between two sides.
In a phone call with @JosepBorrellF , we discussed Iran-EU relations and regional issues. I stressed the need to end the Israeli regime’s crimes and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, without delay and precondition.
— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) May 2, 2024
In this context, the UN should play a central role in…
Several countries have designated the IRGC as a terrorist organisation, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the US. There have been calls for other countries and the EU to join them.
At least 34,596 Palestinians have been killed and 77,816 injured in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, according to new figures released by the Hamas-led health ministry in the territory.
In addition, according to the latest update from the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, since 7 October, 474 Palestinians including 116 children, have been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and about 5,000 were injured. It reported that at least 457 were killed by Israeli forces, and at least ten by Israeli settlers.
Israel says that in its ground offensive in Gaza since 27 October 263 soldiers have been killed and 1,602 of its troops have been wounded. 248 wounded Israeli troops are hospitalised with their injuries.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has posted a picture of his meeting with the UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Lapid said he told him that the most urgent thing was to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza, and that Lapid hoped for help from all the nations in the region.
He added: “Israel has an interest in creating, together with the United Arab Emirates and moderate Arab countries, political and economic cooperation that can offer solutions to global problems and deal with regional threats of all kinds.”
נפגשתי עם שר החוץ האמירותי, עבדאללה בן זיאד, @ABZayed, אמרתי לו שהדבר הדחוף ביותר הוא להחזיר את החטופים הביתה. וכי כל מדינה באזור יכולה להשפיע על העסקה. pic.twitter.com/e86nYxsNf3
— יאיר לפיד - Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) May 2, 2024
In Israel, Haaretz reports that two people have been arrested after shouting verbal abuse and throwing stones and eggs at a demonstration being held by relatives of those held hostage in Gaza which was attempting to block a highway in Tel Aviv.
During the demonstration Ayala Metzger, the daughter-in-law of hostage Yoram Metzger, criticised the government of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying:
There’s been a tragedy in the state of Israel that can’t be ignored. No one came to help after seven months, no one came to rescue. It’s time to being them home, we will do everything and keep disrupting day-to-day life until they return home.
At the same time, in Jerusalem, a demonstration was held directly outside Netanyahu’s home. A statement by the protest group said “After they promised us for six months that only fighting can bring them home, we all now know that the only way to save those who can be saved is through a deal. We call on the prime ministe: don’t succumb to extremist pressure, that uses the hostages as an excuse to continue waging war. It’s time to choose life. Those who failed us – must return them.”
The group have erected posters of some of the women still being held in Gaza as part of the demonstration.
For our First Edition newsletter today, my colleague Archie Bland spoke to Bassam Khawaja, a human rights lawyer and lecturer at Columbia Law School in the US, about why he supports the protests, what they are seeking to achieve, and how they have escalated to a crisis point:
Protests began at universities across the US soon after the Hamas attack of 7 October, and spread as Israel’s invasion of Gaza intensified. Columbia, a potent symbol of the power of student activism thanks to its students’ key role in Vietnam and anti-apartheid protests, was at the centre of the movement from the start.
As early as November, Columbia suspended chapters of two groups, Jewish Voice for Peace and Students For Justice in Palestine, over an unauthorised walkout. Instead of quashing the protest, that action prompted the formation of a coalition of dozens of student organisations, under the CU Apartheid Divest (CUAD) umbrella. Now made up of 100 student-run groups, CUAD has called on the university to sell holdings in companies with significant financial ties to Israel.
It was CUAD that organised a protest encampment earlier this month – and it was the arrest of more than 100 protesters as their tents were cleared two weeks ago that ratcheted tensions up further. Columbia president Minouche Shafik requested the NYPD’s presence, calling the encampment “a clear and present danger”, and in doing so crossed the Rubicon.
“It was essentially students studying in tents,” Bassam Khawaja said. “It’s laughable to say that it was a danger.” Sending in the NYPD two weeks ago was, he said, “certainly an escalation – but it didn’t come out of nowhere. All the way through this, Columbia has chosen to escalate.”
You can read more here: Thursday briefing – How Gaza protests have gripped American universities
More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools during the protests. You can follow our live blog specifically about that here.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports the several Palestinian civilians were killed on Thursday morning by Israeli airstrikes which targeted residential buildings and also the “lands and tents of the displaced people east of the city of Rafah”.
It reports that “six citizens were killed in an Israeli bombing of the city of Al-Zahraa, north of Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip” and that one person was killed near Khan Younis, and two were killed when Israel bombed “a residential building owned by Ishteiwi family in Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City” where it said “a number of missing people are still under the rubble.”
The claims have not been independently verified. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
In its latest operational update, Israel’s military claims that its air force “struck a large amount of terrorist infrastructure, including operational tunnel shafts and military structures” in the Gaza Strip. It also says its planes “struck armed terrorists that threatened the troops” on the ground.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Hamas response to ceasefire and hostage release plan said to be 'negative' but discussions continue
A senior Hamas official overnight has told the AFP news agency that at the moment the group’s response to the proposed truce deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar was “negative”, but that discussions were still under way.
The group’s aim remains an “end to this war”, Suhail al-Hindi told AFP. The group is understood to be seeking a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the ground in Gaza, with the proposal that there would then be a lengthy rebuilding programme for the territory during which it undertook not to rebuild any military facilities.
That is at odds with the stated aims of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has signalled that Israel intends to mount a ground operation in Rafah regardless of the outcome of a deal. Israel argues that Hamas fighters have fled to the south of the Strip. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal,” Netanyahu said this week.
The outline of the hostage release programme that has been proposed is believed to be a 40 day pause in fighting while initially women are released in batches of three every three days. Hamas and other groups are believed to have seized and abducted about 250 people on 7 October from inside southern Israel, with 133 of them thought still held captive, not all of whom are believed to be alive.
Hamas official Hindi, speaking to AFP by phone from an undisclosed location, said there is “great interest from Hamas and all Palestinian resistance factions to end this insane war on the Palestinian people, which has consumed everything”.
“But it will not be at any cost,” he added, stressing that the group “cannot under any circumstances raise the white flag or surrender to the conditions of the Israeli enemy”.
On Wednesday Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry called on all sides to “show the necessary flexibility” to achieve a deal “that stops the bloodshed of Palestinians”. The Hamas-led health ministry has put the death toll in Gaza at over 34,000.
Visiting the region in the last few days, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Hamas were the only obstacle to securing a pause in fighting, and that they need to “decide quickly” to accept what he described as a “generous” offer from Israel.
Updated
Welcome and opening summary
Welcome to our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis. I am Martin Belam and I will be with you for the next while.
Israel’s military chief of staff has said the country is “preparing for an offensive in the north” as he met troops on the Lebanon border. He also said the offensive operation in Gaza “will continue with strength”, without elaborating further on the remarks.
Fears have been growing that Israel could launch a ground offensive on the Lebanon-based militia group Hezbollah that could trigger a wider regional conflict.
Since Hamas’ 7 October attack on Israel in the south, the Iran-allied group has been firing rockets and mortars at the exposed northern Israeli villages and farms next the UN-controlled Blue Line that separates the two countries. Israel has retaliated with its own attacks.
The back-and-forth fire has killed 16 Israeli soldiers and 11 civilians, as well as 71 Lebanese civilians and about 500 fighters from the powerful Iran-allied group and other factions while tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the boundary have fled their homes.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
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.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken has met leaders in Israel and also the families of some of those held hostage in Gaza. He told the families to “keep the faith”, and said after meeting president Isaac Herzog “Even in these very difficult times we are determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home – and to get it now. And the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas.”
Hamas has asked Egyptian and Qatari mediators to provide clarity on the terms of the latest ceasefire proposal being discussed as part of negotiations with Israel, an Egyptian official told Associated Press on Wednesday. The official said Hamas wants clear terms for the unconditional return of displaced people to the north of Gaza and to ensure that the second stage of the deal will include discussing the gradual and complete withdrawal of all Israeli troops from the entire Gaza Strip.
Jordan said some Israeli settlers attacked two of its aid convoys that were on the way to Gaza on Wednesday. It said the attack resulted in the dumping of some of their cargo, which included food, flour, and other necessities, in the streets. Honenu, an Israeli legal aid agency, reported that four men who had “blocked aid trucks going to Gaza” as they were passing near the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim were arrested by Israeli police.
The Hamas-led health ministry has issued updated casualty figures, claiming that at least 34,568 Palestinians have been killed and 77,765 wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
The University of California in Los Angeles was reeling on Wednesday following a late-night violent attack by counter-demonstrators on a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, as the state’s governor condemned a slow response from law enforcement to some of the worst violence seen since students across the US intensified their protests in support of Gaza.
Crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protests at US colleges spread on Wednesday after campus hotspots intensified overnight, leading to some violence and hundreds more arrests amid widespread controversy over universities calling in police and claims about “outside agitators” driving escalation.
Colombia’s president has announced that his government will sever diplomatic relations with Israel, in the latest escalation of a furious row between the countries over the war in Gaza. Addressing a May Day rally in Bogotá on Wednesday, Gustavo Petro again described Israel’s siege of Gaza as “genocide”. “Tomorrow [Thursday] diplomatic relations with the state of Israel will be severed … for having a government, for having a president that is genocidal,” Petro said.
