Protests against the ongoing war in Gaza have spread at Yale University in Connecticut and New York University in Manhattan in the United States. Police arrested dozens of people on Monday night to disperse the ongoing protests at New York University. The British media BBC reported. Authorities arrested at least 47 protesters on the Yale University campus in New Haven. The university confirmed the matter in a statement.  The ongoing protests on U.S. campuses captured the world's attention last week when New York City police arrested more than 100 protesting students on the campus of Columbia University. As part of the protest, the students setting up tent encampments at its New York City campus last week. Authorities have expelled the arrested students from the university after the police made the arrests. Hundreds of Columbia University teachers staged a mass walkout on Monday to protest the arrests of students protesting on their campuses. In addition, the authorities announced on Monday that all classes of the university will be conducted virtually. Meanwhile, protests in support of Palestine are taking place at major US educational institutions, including the University of California at Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Michigan and Emerson College. But many U.S. politicians and campus-based organizations are claiming the protests as an anti-Semitic movement.

The death toll in the Gaza Strip from ongoing Israeli attacks has exceeded 33,000. More than 24,000 women and children were among the dead. The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has announced in a statement that  the total death toll is about 33,037 and more than 75,668 are injured since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, reports Al Jazeera on Friday (April 5). The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) released several posts on X on the eve of the Palestinian Child Day stated, "1,000 children have lost either one or both of their legs in Gaza." Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) stated that Israel kills around four children per hour in Gaza. However, Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023. About Two million people in Gaza bocame refugee by Israeli attacks.  

Israel says its airstrike was targeting militants from the Islamic Jihad operating from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Amidst the fighting, a fresh round of negotiations about a possible truce is underway in Cairo. An Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp inside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital compound in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on Sunday. Israel's military said it targeted a command center operated by the Islamic Jihad group,  a militant group and ally of Hamas. "The command center and terrorists were struck precisely, intended on minimizing harm to uninvolved civilians in the area of the hospital," the military said. "The Al-Aqsa hospital building was not damaged and its functioning was not affected," it added. Thousands of people have been sheltering in tents in the hospital's courtyard to escape the fighting in Gaza. Reporters have also used the hospital courtyard as a safe place to work. A reporter for the AP news agency based in tents nearby filmed the aftermath of the strike and said people including women and children scattered and cried out. Two people were killed and 15 others wounded in the airstrike. Fighting also reported at other Gaza hospitals On Saturday, the Israeli military said it had "continued to eliminate" militants around the largest hospital, Al-Shifa in Gaza City, with around 200 reported killed after 13 days of fighting. The Red Crescent reported Israeli operations were also ongoing at Al-Amal Hospital, and Hamas reported fighting at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis. Israel said hospitals in Gaza are used by Hamas and other militant groups as bases, Hamas and medical staff deny this. The UN World Health Organization warned that Gaza now has just 10 "minimally functioning" hospitals, down from 36 before the war. The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday at least 32,782 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war,  including 77 whose bodies were brought to hospitals over the last 24 hours. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants. Israel launched a ground operation in Gaza in the wake of the terror attack by Hamas and other militants in southern Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and some 250 hostages taken. Fresh round of talks in Cairo On Sunday, indirect cease-fire talks resumed in Cairo despite the ongoing fighting. Egypt, one of the mediators in the talks, hosted an Israeli delegation for the latest round of negotiations. According to the Reuters news agency, Hamas negotiators were not present at the talks in Cairo as they were waiting to hear what Israel proposed. The warring sides were discussing a six-week suspension of Israel's offensive in return for the proposed release of 40 of 130 hostages still held by Hamas militants in Gaza.

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution on Monday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the duration of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan as well as the unconditional release of all hostages. The resolution, which passed to widespread applause, is the first to be approved by all U.N. Security Council members after four previous attempts during the past five months of war. The U.S., which vetoed three previous resolutions and put forward its own failed proposal last week, abstained. U.N. Security Council resolutions are binding on member states, though it remains unclear how it will be enforced. Despite some efforts to take U.S. edits to the resolution into account, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the U.S. “did not agree with everything in the resolution,” most notably its failure to include explicit condemnation of Hamas. “For that reason, we were unfortunately not able to vote yes.” The U.S.’s decision to abstain from the resolution comes amid heightened tensions between the Biden Administration and the Israeli government, the latter of which has been unwilling to heed international calls for greater humanitarian access to Gaza, where experts warn that famine is imminent. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also rebuffed the Biden administration’s warnings against launching a ground invasion on Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are currently sheltering. Although President Biden invited an Israeli delegation to Washington this week to discuss alternative approaches to a ground invasion, Netanyahu threatened to cancel those meetings if the U.S. didn’t veto the resolution. After the resolution passed, Netanyahu’s office announced that the delegation would not leave for Washington as scheduled. White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the Biden Administration is "very disappointed about Netanyahu's decision not to send his advisers for talks at the White House about the Rafah operation." While human-rights organizations have praised the resolution’s passage, many of them, such as the International Rescue Committee, continue to call for a sustained ceasefire beyond Ramadan, which is due to end in just two weeks. Source: Time  

Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud called on the OIC member states to take alternate measures to end the conflict in Gaza which has turned into genocide and ensure humanitarian rights and human rights for the Palestinian people. He was speaking at the 19th Extraordinary CFM of the OIC on Israels’ aggression on the Palestinian People at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today (05 March 2024). Hasan Mahmud reiterated Bangladesh's firm support for the cause of Palestine and called for an immediate ceasefire while ensuring keeping open humanitarian corridors. He stressed on the importance of the Islamic Financial Safety Net to ensure basic necessities for the Palestinians.   He mentioned the strong statement delivered by Bangladesh at the ICJ in February  on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and hoped that peace will be established soon in the region which is the demand of the Muslim Ummah. Noting the current development at the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Minister highlighted the need for its reform so that decision on globally effecting issues could be reached. Dr. Hasan Mahmud reiterated the need for unity of the Muslim Ummah and resolve on the part of all parties to end the atrocities against Palestinian people and help them to live safely and peacefully in their own homeland.

Children are dying of starvation in northern Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) chief says. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency's visits over the weekend to the Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals were the first since early October. In a post on social media, he spoke of "grim findings". A lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children and "severe levels of malnutrition", while hospital buildings have been destroyed, he wrote. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported on Sunday that at least 15 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration at the Kamal Adwan hospital. A sixteenth child died on Sunday at a hospital in the southern city of Rafah, the Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported on Monday. Dr Tedros reported "severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed" in northern Gaza, where an estimated 300,000 people are living with little food or clean water. "The lack of food resulted in the deaths of 10 children," he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. The visits were the WHO's first in months "despite our efforts to gain more regular access to the north of Gaza", he wrote. "The situation at Al-Awda Hospital is particularly appalling, as one of the buildings is destroyed," he added. The UN warned last week that famine in Gaza was "almost inevitable". A senior UN aid official warned that at least 576,000 people across the Gaza Strip - one quarter of the population - faced catastrophic levels of food insecurity and one in six children under the age of two in the north were suffering from acute malnutrition. And the regional director of the UN's children's agency, Unicef, said "the child deaths we feared are here, as malnutrition ravages the Gaza Strip". "These tragic and horrific deaths are man-made, predictable and entirely preventable," Adele Khodr said in a statement on Sunday. On Saturday, the US a launched its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza - including more than 38,000 meals. However, aid agencies have said these drops - which have also previously been carried out by the UK, France, Egypt and Jordan - are an inefficient way of getting supplies to people. The deliveries themselves have sometimes turned deadly. Last week, at least 112 Palestinians were reportedly killed when large crowds descended on lorries carrying aid while Israeli tanks were present. Israel said the tanks fired warning shots but did not strike the lorries and that many of the dead were trampled or run over. But this has been disputed by Hamas, which said there was "undeniable" evidence of "direct firing at citizens". Some aid agencies have been facing difficulties with the authorities. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN's main human rights agency in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA, on Monday accused the Israeli government of trying to "eliminate" its presence in Gaza. Israel has long accused different branches of the United Nations, including Unrwa, of bias and even of antisemitism. Several western countries, including the UK, have paused funding to UNRWA after Israel accused some staff of roles in the 7 October attacks. Mr Lazzarini said that this was not just in response to "neutrality breaches of some of the staff" but had a wider political motive, which included plans to "eliminate the status of refugees and make sure that this is not part of a final political settlement". He added that dismantling his organisation would lead to the collapse of the entire humanitarian response on Gaza. The Israeli military launched a large-scale air and ground campaign to destroy Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and others - after the group's gunmen killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on 7 October and took 253 back to Gaza as hostages. More than 30,500 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.   Source: BBC

The Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip from ongoing Israeli attacks has risen to 30,534, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said in a press statement on Monday (March 4). According to the statement, the Israeli army killed 124 Palestinians and wounded 210 others during the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 30,534 and injuries to 71,920 since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023. It noted that some victims remain under the rubble amid heavy bombardment and a lack of civil defense and ambulance crews. Israel has been launching a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.   Source: Shine

The UN chief says the Security Council's authority has been undermined by its inability to take action on conflicts. He called for the body to be reformed United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday deplored what he said were inadequate responses to the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine by the Security Council, saying its authority had been "perhaps fatally" undermined.  Speaking at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Guterres said the Security Council was often "unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time." What else did Guterres say? "The Council's lack of unity on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel's military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely — perhaps fatally — undermined its authority," he said. "The Council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods." Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, has used its veto right to block several resolutions calling for Moscow to stop its invasion, or those condemning its "annexations" of Ukrainian regions.  The United States last week again vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Israel's offensive against Gaza. Washington said the resolution would interfere with negotiations on a deal to release hostages. It was the third US veto of a draft resolution since the start of the current fighting on October 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented his plan for governing Gaza after the war, which involves full military control and shutting down the Palestinian relief organization UNRWA. Here's what we know so far. For the first time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented his Security Cabinet with a plan for managing the Gaza Strip after the end of the war against the militant Islamist group Hamas. The Israel-Hamas war began after the Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7. According to Israeli figures, around 1,160 people were killed and some 250 hostages were taken to Gaza. Israel believes that around 130 hostages are still being held by Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, Israel and other states. The Palestinian death toll since the start of the war has exceeded 29,500, with close to 70,000 wounded, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Widespread destruction has led to dire humanitarian conditions. Who will govern? The loosely worded plan states that Gaza should be administered by "local officials" who have administrative experience, and would "not be identified with countries or entities that support terrorism and will not receive payment from them." The Palestinian Authority, which currently governs the occupied West Bank, is not mentioned in the paper, but also not explicitly ruled out. Israeli military to handle security According to national dailies The Times of Israel and Haaretz, the Israeli military would take over security control of the entire Gaza Strip. This would mean the dismantling of all Hamas military structures and grant unlimited freedom for Israeli military operations. Media reports also said Israel hopes a new road dividing the Gaza Strip into north and south would improve security control. But observers fear Israel could also use this road to prevent Palestinian refugees who fled to the south at the beginning of the war from returning to the north. Haaretz reported that the plan also includes the establishment of a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel, which would be controlled by the Israeli army, with no civilians allowed to return. Such a buffer zone would reduce the already cramped habitable area in the enclave. Israel also wants to operate a "southern closure" on the border between Egypt and Gaza to curb smuggling into the area, The Times of Israel reported. An end to the UNRWA? Another postwar aim is the closure of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which Netanyahu has accused of being infiltrated by Hamas. He has alleged that several employees of the aid organization were involved in the October 7 attacks. The UN has dismissed those in question and initiated internal investigations. Meanwhile, a number of countries, including the United States and Germany, have suspended their payments to UNRWA. Far-right demands Netanyahu did not accommodate demands made by far-right ministers in his cabinet. Among other things, they had called for Gaza to be used for Israeli settlers. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had also called for the Palestinian population to be settled outside Gaza. The prime minister had already rejected the idea to use the Gaza Strip for settlements in January. The plan was criticized by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that expanding settlements in Palestinian territories would prevent peace. No two-state solution Netanyahu continues to reject a two-state solution, despite urging from international supporters including the US. Washington has also backed a reorganized Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas, who would be tasked with taking back the administration of Gaza. A spokesperson for the Palestinian Authority rejected Netanyahu's plan. "Gaza will only be part of the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," he said, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. "If the world wants security and stability in the region, it must end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and recognize the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," he added.

The top UN court hands down an initial decision Friday in a case against Israel over alleged genocide in Gaza, a landmark ruling closely watched in the Middle East and around the world.   The top UN court hands down an initial decision Friday in a case against Israel over alleged genocide in Gaza, a landmark ruling closely watched in the Middle East and around the world.     The International Court of Justice could order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the unprecedented October 7 attacks by Hamas, or to facilitate humanitarian aid.     The court will not however pass judgement on whether or not Israel is actually committing genocide in Gaza.     At this stage, the ICJ will hand down emergency orders before considering the wider accusation of genocidal acts in Gaza -- a process that will likely take years.     The case has been brought by South Africa, which says that Israel is in breach of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, set up in the ashes of World War II and the Holocaust.     "South Africa does not need to prove that Israel is committing genocide," said Juliette McIntyre, international law expert from the University of South Australia.     "They simply need to establish that there is a plausible risk of genocide occurring," she told AFP.     Over two days of hearings earlier this month in the gilded halls of the Peace Palace in the Hague, a world away from the violence in Israel and Gaza, robed lawyers argued over the technicalities of the Genocide Convention.     "Genocides are never declared in advance," declared Adila Hassim, a top lawyer for South Africa.     "But this Court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts," she added.     - 'World is upside down' -     The case has sparked fury in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that "the world is upside down".     Israel's lawyer Tal Becker dismissed Pretoria's case as a "profoundly distorted factual and legal picture" and a "decontextualised and manipulative description of the reality" on the ground.     Showing the court images of the brutal Hamas attack, Becker said that "if there have been acts that may be characterised as genocidal, then they have been perpetrated against Israel".     Becker denied that Israel's operations were aimed at the citizens of Gaza. The army's aim was "not to destroy a people, but to protect a people, its people, who are under attack on multiple fronts", he said.     The ICJ's rulings are binding on all parties, but it has no mechanism to enforce them. Sometimes they are completely ignored -- the court has ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine for example.     Netanyahu has already suggested he does not feel bound by the court, saying "no one will stop us -- not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil and no one else".     - 'Huge' symbolic impact -     "It is conceivable that an order by the court would not have any significant influence on Israel's military operation," said Cecily Rose, assistant professor of public international law at Leiden University.     But if the court decides there is a risk of genocide in Gaza, it could still have a ripple effect, notably on other nations that back Israel politically or militarily.     "It makes it much harder for other states to continue to support Israel in the face of a neutral third party finding there is a risk of genocide," said McIntyre.     "States may withdraw military or other support for Israel in order to avoid this," she added.     In addition, she noted the "huge" symbolic impact of any ruling against Israel under the Genocide Convention, given its tragic history.     In its submission to the court, South Africa acknowledged the "particular weight of responsibility" of accusing Israel of genocide but said it was bound to uphold its duties under the Convention.     Israeli lawyer Becker retorted that "there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide".     The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.     At least 25,700 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments and ground offensive since then, according to the Hamas government's health ministry.