New York police clear out pro-Palestine protest at Barnard

Police in New York have evacuated the Barnard College library, where pro-Palestine protesters had been staging a sit-in over the expulsion of three other students, claiming they had received a bomb threat.

The police announced on X that the threat was “investigated and cleared” and a spokesperson later said roughly nine people were taken into custody during the demonstration.

Videos shared widely on social media showed protesters inside the building on Wednesday afternoon chanting, playing drums and hanging Palestinian flags on walls. Videos from later in the evening showed police entering the building wearing helmets and carrying zip ties and then later clearing and detaining protesters and others from the lawn outside the building.

The group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine dismissed the threat as “manufactured by Barnard administrators” to clear the protest, noting in posts on X that police brought detained students back into the library even as they continued their investigation.

The Student Government Association of Barnard College, meanwhile, in a letter to the Columbia University-affiliated school’s administration, decried its approach to the protests.

“We bear witness to our fellow students – our friends – brutalised and silenced for speaking up on our own campus,” the letter said. “The Barnard Student Government Association strongly condemns the presence of NYPD [New York Police Department] on campus.”

BREAKING: SRG police has cleared the protesters from the Barnard College lawn after Pro-Palestine students OCCUPIED Milstein Library inside.

Video by @peterhvideo @FreedomNTV Desk@freedomnews.tv to license pic.twitter.com/ZC265x1EWp

— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) March 5, 2025

Israelis join TikTok trend mocking Palestinian children’s suffering

An Israeli social media trend shows people prank-calling family members, pretending to seek donations for Palestinian children, to mock their suffering in Gaza.

Beyond sick.

Israel’s Katz vows to resume Gaza war with ‘unseen intensity’

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to restart the war on Gaza with “unseen intensity” if efforts to release Israeli captives fail.

Katz promised to return all the captives, including those killed “by the vile people in the Gaza Strip”, according to The Times of Israel.

“The ceasefire agreement with the murderous Hamas and the heavy prices Israel paid, and is willing to continue to pay, within its implementation, are intended to bring about the rapid release of all living Israeli hostages, who are held under the most severe conditions in Gaza, and to bring all of the hostages who are not alive for burial in Israel,” Katz was quoted as saying.

“One thing is clear — the fighting will end in two clear achievements: the release of all of our hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

PM Netanyahu ‘in difficulties internally’ over restarting Gaza war

Meron Rapoport, editor of the Local Call news site in Tel Aviv, says that while the Israeli government is downplaying the direct contact between Hamas and the Trump administration, the discussions are important.

“We have to remember Israel has been dialoguing with Hamas for many years but not directly, always through intermediaries. Direct talks are an interesting development, and I think Israel is viewing it with quiet concern,” Rapaport told Al Jazeera.

Despite the Gaza ceasefire now stalled with Israel refusing to enter its second phase, the Israeli government appears to be reluctant to restart the fighting, he said, noting only 9 percent of the Israeli public in a recent poll wanted to go back to war.

“It did not go further than this blockade and did not really go back into bombing as some may have feared. Prime Minister Netanyahu knows he’s in difficulties internally, and if the US is conducting negotiations with Hamas behind the scenes, it makes things even more difficult.”

New Columbia University committee targets pro-Palestine students

A new university disciplinary committee at Columbia University in New York City has initiated a flurry of cases against students who have expressed criticism of Israel, The Associated Press reports.

The committee, the Office of Institutional Equity, in recent weeks has sent notices to dozens of students for activities ranging from sharing social media posts in support of Palestinian people to joining “unauthorized” protests.

The office is raising alarm among students, faculty and free speech advocates, who accuse the school of bowing to Trump’s threats to slash funding to universities and deport campus “agitators”.

“Based on how these cases have proceeded, the university now appears to be responding to governmental pressure to suppress and chill protected speech,” Amy Greer, an attorney who is advising students accused of discrimination, told the Associated Press.

The Columbia campus saw a wave of student protests in support of Palestine last year that caused controversy and charges of stifling free speech as the university administration cracked down.

US to use AI to revoke visas of students perceived as pro-Hamas: Report

The US State Department will use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who are perceived as supporters of Hamas, Axios reported, citing senior State Department officials.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is launching “Catch and Revoke”, AI-assisted reviews of tens of thousands of student visa holders’ social media accounts, the outlet reported.

Axios said officials were checking news reports of protests to identify students seen as sympathetic towards the Palestinian group.

Officials will also examine internal databases to see whether any visa holders were arrested but allowed to stay in the country during the Biden administration, the outlet reported.

“We see people marching at our universities and in the streets of our country … calling for Intifada, celebrating what Hamas has done … Those people need to go,” Rubio had said a few days after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack which sparked Israel’s war in Gaza.

Trump echoed the same in a January 30 White House fact sheet tied to an executive order aimed at “pro-Hamas” activity, Axios reported: “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice. We will find you, and we will deport you.”

Less than half of Americans now support Israel: Gallup

Support for Israel among Americans is at its lowest since the polling company Gallup started surveying them on this question.

According to new data released by Gallup, only 46 percent of Americans express support for Israel, down from the previous lowest point – 51 percent – recorded both last year and in 2001. Gallup started tracking responses to this question 25 years ago.

The number of Americans who say they support Palestinians is at 33 percent, up by 6 percentage points since last year.

The poll also found that only 40 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the Israel-Palestine conflict, lower than his already low overall job approval rating of 45 percent.

Israeli, US air forces conduct joint exercise

The Israeli Air Force has conducted a joint training exercise with the US Air Force, the Israeli military said in a statement.

During the exercise, Israeli F-35i and F-15i aircraft flew alongside a US B-52 strategic bomber, the Israeli military said, adding that the aircraft had practised “operational coordination between the two militaries to enhance their ability to address various regional threats”.

Speculation has grown in recent months about a possible joint attack by Israel and the US on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Israel’s new defence chief of staff to present plans for resumed Gaza fighting

The Israeli military’s new chief of staff is expected to present plans for the resumption of fighting in Gaza at a meeting tonight, according to Israeli media.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the new chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, is set to hold a situational assessment detailing plans to retake control of various areas across Gaza, including areas it left as part of the ceasefire agreement deal.

But officials who spoke with the newspaper also said that the military is facing challenges drafting the number of reservists needed for such a plan.

A number of Israeli reservists have indicated that they would decline to fight in Gaza and end their voluntary service instead, as they believe a resumption of hostilities would endanger the remaining captives and is based on political calculations.

Trump will back Israel in ‘whatever action it chooses to take’

The White House administration is standing by the fact that there would not be a deployment of troops in Gaza, though what they say and what they do may be two different things.

However, what is very clear is that Trump will back Israel in whatever action it chooses to take should the captives not be released, so he is basically flashing a green light in the direction of Israel to restart full-on conflict in Gaza.

This goes against what it appears his special envoy to the region is doing. He’s been holding direct talks with Hamas, bypassing Israel, and is now on his way to Doha for talks with the region’s leaders there. So there appears to be a bit of a disconnect in terms of what President Trump thinks and what his diplomats are actually doing on the ground.

But it was made very clear again, and he’s said it repeatedly, that it is up to Israel to do whatever it deems necessary, and now he’s giving Israel a very, very clear green light to do what it deems necessary, even if it means an upsurge in the conflict.

Hamas spokesperson calls on Trump to visit released Palestinian prisoners

A spokesperson for Hamas’s political division has called on Trump to meet with Palestinian prisoners after he met with released Israeli captives.

In a public letter shared with Al Jazeera, the spokesperson, Basem Naim, wrote that while Trump speaks of the “unbearable suffering of Israeli captives in Gaza”, more than 9,500 Palestinians are languishing in Israeli custody across 23 detention centers, deprived of basic rights, denied family visits, and facing “ongoing psychological and physical torture”.

“We invite President Trump to show the same level of respect to freed Palestinian political prisoners and allocate the time to meet and listen to their stories,” he wrote.

Naim added that 62 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since the beginning of the latest war and that Israeli authorities are holding the remains of 665 Palestinians buried in “numbers graves” and “morgues”, some of whom had been detained as far back as the 1960s and 1970s.

Main events on March 6th

• Support for Israel among Americans is at its lowest since the polling company Gallup started surveying them on this question.
• The US State Department will use artificial intelligence to revoke visas of foreign students who are perceived as supporters of Hamas, Axios reported, citing senior State Department officials.
• The US president confirmed that a senior US official held direct talks with Hamas recently about Israeli captives held in Gaza.
• Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said US discussions with Hamas were recent and the message to the Palestinian group was that the US wants to get captives home.
• Any Israeli military escalation against Palestinians would most likely lead to the killing of some captives, a spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, has said.

Largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967: UNRWA chief

The head of UNRWA has condemned Israel’s large-scale demolition of homes in the occupied West Bank and warned that they are having a devastating impact on the lives of thousands of Palestinians.

“The refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams have been nearly emptied of their residents, with widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure including homes,” the agency’s commissioner, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in a post on X. “People now face the prospect of having nowhere to return to.”

Lazzarini noted that the ongoing Israeli military escalation in the West Bank, which has already displaced some 40,000 people, is “the single-longest and most destructive since the second Intifada, resulting in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since the 1967 war”.

He added that recent Israeli legislation targeting UNRWA has “created a vacuum of international presence when it is most needed”.

Israeli army storms West Bank’s Fawwar refugee camp

The Israeli army has stormed the Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron, as part of an ongoing military assault on camps and cities in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

Videos posted by Palestinian groups and verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad agency show Israeli forces entering the camp and breaking surveillance cameras.

Israel’s army sent additional troops to the city of Jenin and resumed the demolition of several homes in the Nur Shams camp, east of Tulkarem.

Israeli soldiers raid mosques in the occupied West Bank

Palestine’s official news agency, Wafa, reports Israeli forces have raided several mosques in the Old City of Nablus and prevented Friday prayers from being held.

Quoting Palestinian security sources and residents, it said three Palestinians were detained during the operations.

Israeli military vehicles stormed multiple neighbourhoods in the city and fired live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas canisters, the report said.

_{Israeli soldiers take part in a military raid in the old town of Nablus in the occupied West Bank in February 2025}

Nearly 200 Israeli violations in occupied territory last month: Report

The Israeli army and settlers occupying Palestinian land committed 187 violations against Bedouin communities in the occupied West Bank in February, a rights group says.

The report by the Organization for the Defence of Bedouin Rights said attacks and incidents of abuse included 39 in Hebron, 18 in Bethlehem, seven in Nablus, 21 in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, 33 in Tubas, 21 in Ramallah, 21 in Salfit, 21 in Qalqilya, and six in occupied East Jerusalem.

Incidents involved damage to shelters and tents, physical assaults on civilians, livestock theft, the burning of property and agricultural equipment, home demolitions, destruction of farmland, uprooting of trees, and the construction of new settlement roads, the report said.

Settlers storm Palestinian community in Jordan Valley, raise flags

The Wafa news agency reports settlers have raised Israeli flags near the tents of Palestinian residents in the northern Jordan Valley. Quoting local sources, it said a group of settlers stormed Khirbet Samra in the occupied West Bank, raising fears among Palestinians they would seize farmland.

Settlers are Israeli citizens who live illegally on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel started building settlements after capturing the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip in the June 1967 Six-Day War.

Now, more than 700,000 settlers – 10 percent of Israel’s nearly seven million population – live in 150 settlements and 128 outposts spread across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel condemned for raiding 8 mosques in Nablus

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement condemning the storming of eight mosques in the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

The Israeli army set fire to Al-Nasr Mosque in the Old City, one of its most significant historical landmarks, and prevented firefighters from extinguishing the blaze, the Wafa news agency reported.

“The ministry calls for real international intervention to protect our people, their land, property and holy sites,” it said.

The Ministry condemns the storming of 8 #mosques in the city of Nablus by the occupation forces, their vandalism, and the destruction of parts of these mosques, as well as the burning of large sections of Al-Nasr Mosque in the city's old town.

The ministry calls for real… pic.twitter.com/yV3HZt18B0

— State of Palestine - MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) March 7, 2025

More reports of Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank

The Israeli army has raided the town of Silwad, east of Ramallah, the Wafa news agency reports as Palestinians celebrate the first Friday of Ramadan.

Silwad Mayor Raed Nimer Hamed said soldiers entered several areas around the al-Wasta neighbourhood and searched a number of homes. No arrests or fighting were reported.

Israeli forces also raided the town of Surif, north of Hebron, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Hamas slams Israeli assaults on occupied West Bank mosques

Israel’s aggression against the Muslim religious sites in the occupied West Bank is part of its “religious war … on our people and our land”, according to the Palestinian group.

It slammed the attacks on the mosques in Nablus and Hebron, adding rooms were set on fire and worshippers prevented from performing the dawn prayer.

“The occupation’s aggression against the mosques of the West Bank in Ramadan is an insistence on religious war and our people will not remain silent about the desecration of their sanctities,” Hamas said on Telegram.

It also condemned Israeli settlers’ storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque and their attempts to take over the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron.

The Israeli moves set “a dangerous precedent, which requires making every effort to not repeat it, and standing as an impregnable barrier against the occupation’s policies and ambitions”, it said.

More on Israel’s Al-Nasr Mosque arson attack

The fire set by Israeli soldiers completely destroyed the imam’s quarters and damaged the mosque’s walls and carpets, residents told Wafa news agency. Al-Nasr Mosque is one of Nablus’s most significant historical landmarks, originally built as a Roman-era church before being converted into a mosque in 1187.

Palestine’s Religious Affairs Ministry condemned the Israeli assaults on Old City mosques in Nablus.

“Israeli forces stormed Al-Nasr Mosque in Bab al-Saha in the Old City at dawn today, set it on fire, and prevented Nablus municipal firefighters from extinguishing the blaze, causing extensive destruction,” a statement said. “Israeli forces raided several mosques in the Old City without warning, desecrating their interiors.”

Nablus Endowments Director Nasser al-Salman denounced the “brutal Israeli assault” on Nablus’s mosques.

“Such actions have been unprecedented since the Nakba of 1948, and they reflect Israel’s blatant disregard for religious, moral, and international norms that guarantee the right to worship and access holy sites.”

West Bank refugee camps nearly emptied of their residents: UNWRA

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said the Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, in the northern occupied West Bank, have been nearly emptied of their residents.

“With widespread destruction to civilian infrastructure including homes, people now face the prospect of having nowhere to return to,” UNWRA said in a statement.

According to the agency, Israeli forces began the demolition of more than 16 buildings in the Nur Shams camp in Tulkarem.

“This comes less than a week after 11 houses were demolished in the same camp, 14 other houses in the Tulkarm Camp, and controlled detonations in Jenin Camp around a month ago that left the camp uninhabitable,” read a statement.

“These large-scale demolitions are an alarming new pattern. They have an unprecedented impact on the Palestinian refugees and seek to permanently change the characteristics of the camps in the northern West Bank,” UNRWA added.

Israel’s continuing military operation in the territory has resulted in the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since the 1967 war, with some 40,000 people displaced from their homes, said the UN relief agency.

Arab plan for Gaza not ‘adequate’: State Department

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce says the plan put forward by Egypt and Arab leaders for the post-war management of the Gaza Strip is not seen as “adequate” by the Trump administration.

“It’s about what are the details, what’s going to end – what’s going to be on the ground,” Bruce told a news conference, adding the US stance is Hamas “cannot exist in Gaza”.

“It is an impossible situation. It is monsters who are controlling and destroying Gazan lives and the lives of people around the region,” Bruce said, describing members of the Palestinian group with the same terminology used by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday.

“The approach now in this dynamic is that it has to be a new approach, and that is what President Trump has said from the beginning, that we’ve got to think differently.”

US cancels millions in grants, contracts to Columbia University over anti-Semitism charges

President Donald Trump’s administration has cancelled grants and contracts totalling $400m to the institution due to “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students”, the Education Department said on Friday.

Columbia was at the centre of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to US support for Israel due to the civilian deaths and humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s assault on Gaza.

There were allegations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in protests and counterprotests. Columbia has previously said it made efforts to tackle anti-Semitism.

Yesterday, we reported that a new disciplinary committee at the university had initiated a flurry of cases against students who have expressed criticism of Israel.

‘They won’t silence us’: Israel tries to block No Other Land

The Israeli-Palestinian grassroots organisation Standing Together has denounced attempts by the Israeli government to prevent the screening of No Other Land, a film about the destruction of the occupied West Bank town of Masafer Yatta that won this year’s Oscar for best documentary.

“Since No Other Land won the Oscar, the Israeli government started to attack its creators and sent a direct threat to cinemas and cultural institutes not to screen it in Israel,” said Alon-Lee Green, the film’s co-director.

“As a response, Standing Together is organising dozens of public screenings across the country with thousands of Jews and Palestinians signing up. They won’t silence us. They won’t erase the struggle against the occupation.”

Since No Other Land won the Oscar, the Israeli government started to attack its creators and sent a direct threat to cinemas and cultural institutes not to screen it in Israel. As a response, Standing Together is organizing dozens of public screenings across the country with… pic.twitter.com/UVROqYxVNY

— Alon-Lee Green - ألون-لي جرين - אלון-לי גרין 🟣 (@AlonLeeGreen) March 6, 2025

Families of Israeli captives organise protest to demand their return

The families of Israeli captives still held in Gaza, part of the Bring Them Home Now group, have called for a protest tomorrow. “The window of opportunity is closing fast – we won’t get another chance,” the group said in a post on X.

“If no agreement is reached in the coming days, we’re effectively condemning the remaining hostages to death, and those who have already died may never be found or brought home.”

This Saturday evening, we will demand the return of all 59 hostages.

The window of opportunity is closing fast - we won't get another chance. If no agreement is reached in the coming days, we're effectively condemning the remaining hostages to death, and those who have already… pic.twitter.com/4LZZgMIzmP

— Bring Them Home Now (@bringhomenow) March 7, 2025

Palestinian father dies hours after being reunited with released son: Report

A Palestinian father died just hours after reuniting with his son who was released from Israeli detention as part of the ceasefire agreement, Palestinian news agency Wafa reports.

Ibrahim Sabbah died in Cairo hours after reuniting with his son Ayham, 24, who was released by Israel after nine years in custody and deported to Egypt. The family announced that Sabbah died of a sudden health crisis shortly after their emotional reunion, according to Wafa.

Sabbah had been living with his family in Beitunia, near Ramallah, when his then 14-year-old son was shot by Israeli forces and subsequently detained. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison before being released in January in a swap for Israeli captives.

UK PM comments on meeting with former captive

As we reported earlier, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has met Eli Sharabi, a former Israeli captive held in Gaza, whose wife was British.

Starmer has now posted on X about the meeting.

“Eli Sharabi endured an unimaginable ordeal in Hamas captivity, he has shown phenomenal courage and bravery,” Starmer wrote. “The loss of his wife, Lianne, daughters Noiya and Yahel, and brother Yossi is unthinkable.”

Starmer added: “Our focus must be on a full implementation of the remaining phases of the ceasefire and reuniting the remaining hostages with their loved ones.”

Eli Sharabi endured an unimaginable ordeal in Hamas captivity, he has shown phenomenal courage and bravery.

The loss of his wife, Lianne, daughters Noiya and Yahel, and brother Yossi is unthinkable.

Our focus must be on a full implementation of the remaining phases of the… pic.twitter.com/6QaOdMlFGa

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) March 7, 2025

World Bank estimates reconstruction needs in Lebanon at $11bn

A report issued by the World Bank says the country needs $11bn for reconstruction and recovery following the conflict with Israel. A ceasefire that entered into force in November 2024 halted the 15-month war that caused heavy destruction in Lebanon, particularly in the south of the country.

The report put the war’s total economic cost at $14bn, including $6.8bn in damage to physical structures and $7.2bn in economic losses from reduced productivity, forgone revenues and operating costs.

The Lebanese housing sector was the hardest hit with losses estimated at $4.6bn while the tourism sector lost $3.6bn.

“By the end of 2024, Lebanon’s cumulative GDP decline since 2019 approached 40 percent, compounding the effects of the multipronged economic downturn and impacting Lebanon’s prospects for economic growth,” the report said.

Lebanon says Israeli army allows Israeli citizens into its territory

Lebanon’s army says it’s coordinating with mediators and the UN after Israel’s military allowed Israeli nationals to enter southern Lebanese territory in violation of the ceasefire with Hezbollah.

“In the context of the Israeli enemy continuing its attacks and violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty, elements of the enemy forces deliberately brought in settlers to visit an alleged religious shrine in the Abbad Houla area in the south, which represents a blatant violation of Lebanese national sovereignty,” the military said in a statement.

Lebanon yet to secure funds to start rebuilding

Lebanon’s finance minister has told Al Jazeera the government has not secured funds to rebuild after last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The World Bank estimated direct losses amounting to at least $6.5bn.

Video shows intense Israeli air strikes on south Lebanon

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reports that Israeli occupation aircraft launched consecutive airstrikes on several locations in the south of the country, targeting the hill of Zaghrabin in Jabal Al-Rihan – Jezzine area, as well as launching airstrikes between the towns of Yater and Zeqin.

Video posted by local sources, and verified by Al Jazeera, shows some of the strikes.

*قلعة انصار غارتين الآن* pic.twitter.com/JaBClMtzMF

— AlHadeel News (@news_hadeel) March 7, 2025

Israel targets sites in southern Lebanon: Military

Israel’s military says that it has conducted strikes on “military sites” belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where it said “weapons and rocket launchers” were identified.

“A short while ago, the [Israeli army] conducted intelligence-based strikes on military sites in southern Lebanon belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in which weapons and rocket launchers belonging to Hezbollah were identified,” the army said in a statement on X, adding that they “constituted a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon”.

“The [army] will continue to act to remove any threat to the State of Israel and prevent any attempt to restore and consolidate the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” the statement continued.

Despite the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has continued to strike targets in Lebanon regularly, leading international bodies and countries such as France to allege ceasefire violations.