New film on Gaza student protests draws record audience on opening weekend

Watermelon Pictures, the independent distributor of Encampments, says the film has set a new record for the “highest opening weekend per theatre average for a documentary”.

In a post on X, the distributor thanked supporters for “rallying your communities to get to the movies and see this film” and said, “Let’s keep this momentum going!”

Deadline, a US news outlet, reported that the film’s exclusive opening weekend at the Angelika Film Center in New York had sold out screenings, anticipated to bring in more than $80,000.

The documentary tells the story of the student protest movement which began at Columbia University in New York in 2024. It features Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, who is currently in detention fighting the Trump administration’s attempt to deport him.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/mar/29/the-encampments-film-columbia-university-student-protests

Rights group calls for sanctions against Israel for demolishing Palestinian homes

Al-Haq is calling on governments around the world to impose an arms embargo on Israel as it continues to “fragment” the Palestinian population in the occupied West Bank through accelerated land seizures and home demolitions.

The Ramallah-based rights group also called for sanctions against Israeli individuals involved in the destruction of Palestinian homes, as well as the companies that provide Israel with the bulldozers used in the demolitions.

These include South Korea’s Hyundai, the UK’s JCB and Sweden’s Volvo.

“States must use every means at their disposal to compel Israel to respect international law, including imposing a two-way arms embargo against Israel” and “targeted sanctions on complicit persons and institutions”, Al-Haq said.

On #LandDay, we commemorate the historical and ongoing expropriation of #Palestinian land by Israel, with the release of our latest Special Focus from the field: Consolidating Annexation of the West Bank: Israel’s Demolitions in Area B https://t.co/QySqZ5SpiR

— Al-Haq الحق (@alhaq_org) March 30, 2025

Lebanon makes arrests over rocket launches

Authorities in Lebanon have arrested several people after unknown groups launched several rockets at Israel on March 22 and 28.

Lebanon’s General Security agency said it had “arrested a number of suspects, and the relevant authorities have begun investigations with them to determine responsibility and take the appropriate legal measures”.

Israel, which has been carrying out near-daily attacks on Lebanon despite agreeing to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in November, stepped up its assault following the rocket launches.

On Friday, it bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs for the first time since the truce went into effect.

Hezbollah has denied involvement in the attacks.

US attacks destroyed mosque, homes in Yemen: Report

The official Saba news agency is reporting that US bombings on Yemen on Sunday caused extensive damage in the northern province of Saada, including to a mosque and homes.

Yemeni officials, visiting the bombed sites in the Qahza area, condemned the US for targeting residential areas and described it as evidence of “its bankruptcy, confusion, and failure”.

They also said “that these American hostilities against the Yemeni people will not deter them from their steadfast support for the Palestinian cause”, according to Saba.

US attacks on Sunday killed one more person and wounded five others near the capital, Sanaa.

US launches more attacks near Yemen’s Sanaa: Report

Yemeni media are reporting that US forces carried out 13 more raids near the capital, Sanaa, on Sunday evening.

These are eight raids on the Al-Malikah area and five raids on the Sarf area.

An earlier US attack on the Jadr area in the Bani Al-Harith district killed at least one person and wounded five others.

Death toll from US attacks on Yemen rises to 59

We’ve been covering the US’s continued bombardment of Yemen.

The Houthi-run Ministry of Health says the US attacks that began on March 15 have killed a total of 59 people and wounded 136 others. The victims include women and children.

Gaza death toll rises

At least 80 people have been killed and 305 injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza in the past 48 hours, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.

The update included 53 killings and 189 injuries from the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the ministry said.

The death toll and injuries since March 18, 2025, when Israel broke the ceasefire, have reached 1,001 killed and 2,359 wounded, the statement published on Telegram said.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed a total of 50,357 people and injured 114,400 others, the ministry added.

Israel’s war on Gaza kills 1,402 medical and 111 emergency workers: Media office

Gaza’s Government Media Office has detailed Israeli attacks on medical and emergency workers as well as their workplaces and vehicles:

Bakeries in Gaza’s north have run out of flour, NGO network says

No bakeries will be operating in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday due to a lack of flour, the Palestinian Information Center reports the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organisation Network (PNGO) as saying.

The bakeries supported by the UN’s World Food Programme in the southern Gaza Strip are expected to close today as the PNGO warned that the situation looks set to worsen.

The PNGO called on the international community to pressure Israel and force it to stop its aggression and return to the ceasefire.

Israel orders residents of Rafah to flee

A spokesman for the Israeli military has issued a new forced displacement order for the southern city of Rafah, warning that soldiers will soon “resume intense combat operations” there.

In a post on X, Avichay Adraee said people in most of Rafah and the nearby areas of Nassr and ash-Shawka should immediately flee to al-Mawasi.

Israel’s Army Radio described the order as the most “extensive evacuation since the resumption of fighting”.

Crowds gather in Khan Younis for funeral of Red Crescent workers

Large crowds have gathered in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis to pay respects to the 15 emergency workers killed by Israeli forces during a rescue mission last week in Rafah.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has condemned the killing of the first responders, whose bodies were uncovered on Sunday, as a “war crime”.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency shows a gathering in Khan Younis honouring some of the slain emergency workers, whose bodies are wrapped in white shrouds bearing the Red Crescent logo.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH21ZT4gdm_

Video shows rescuers recovering bodies of aid workers in Rafah

The footage, by the UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA), shows members of the PRCS and the Palestinian Civil Defence excavating a mass grave in Tal as-Sultan in Gaza’s Rafah governorate.

As we’ve been reporting, rescuers found 14 bodies on Sunday, taking the total number of bodies recovered to 15. The footage from OCHA shows rescuers recovering the bodies buried beneath the sand, next to the mangled remains of their clearly marked emergency vehicles, including ambulances, a fire truck, and a UN-labeled car.

“Seven days ago, Civil Defence and PRCS ambulances arrived at the scene. One by one, they were hit, they were struck. Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave,” Jonathan Whittall, head of OCHA in Palestine, says in the video.

“We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives. Instead, they ended up in a mass grave. Their vehicles, their ambulances, UN vehicles, civil defence vehicles are crushed and dumped, covered in sand next to us. It’s absolute horror what has happened here. This should never happen. Healthcare workers should never be a target.”

1/6 First responders should never be a target. Yet today @UNOCHA supported @PalestineRCS and Civil Defense to retrieve colleagues from a mass grave in #Rafah #Gaza that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances. pic.twitter.com/xFYFXWp2c6

— Jonathan Whittall (@_jwhittall) March 30, 2025

UN staff recounts Israeli attack on fleeing civilians in Gaza

In a post on X, the UN staffer described seeing Israel fire on fleeing civilians as he and others travelled to south Gaza to look for the missing medics that Israeli forces killed in Rafah.

“While traveling to the area on the fifth day we encountered hundreds of civilians fleeing under gunfire,” Whitall wrote. “We witnessed a woman shot in the back of the head. When a young man tried to retrieve her, he too was shot. We were able to recover her body using our UN vehicle.”

He also posted a video of the shootings, showing at least two people falling to the ground amid the sound of gunfire. “Another one shot, another one shot, another one shot,” one person is heard saying.

_{Photo shows rescue operations to recover the bodies of 15 aid workers, in southern Rafah, on March 27}

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/31/middleeast/aid-workers-found-gaza-mass-grave-intl-hnk/index.html

Israel to start building $1.4bn border fence with Jordan

Israel will begin the project in June, and it is expected to finish in about three years, according to Israeli media. The fence will extend from the southern occupied Golan Heights to Ramon International Airport north of Eilat, and its estimated cost is 5.2 billion shekels ($1.4bn), Israel Hayom newspaper said.

Israel will aim to build the fence as close as possible to the actual border with Jordan, keeping in mind security and topographical considerations, The Times of Israel said.

Israel says guns and drugs are smuggled across the border.

US tax payer will pay for it.

Is Facebook profiting from content that may violate international law?

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2025/3/31/meta-profits-as-ads-promote-illegal-israeli-settlements-in-west-bank

Facebook has platformed more than 100 paid advertisements promoting illegal settlements and far-right settler activity in the occupied West Bank, an Al Jazeera investigation has found, raising concerns that the social media giant is profiting from content that may violate international law.

Among the advertisements identified were also calls for the demolition of Palestinian homes, schools, and playgrounds, as well as fundraising appeals for Israeli military units operating in Gaza.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, told Al Jazeera that any advertisements that ran on its platforms were reviewed by the company. While it admitted that some of the advertisements had since been removed for “violating our social issues, elections, and politics policies”, it did not specify whether the promotion of illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian land breached those standards.

Israel’s order for Palestinians to flee to evacuation zone a ‘death trap’

A week after its soldiers encircled and killed paramedics in the Tal as-Sultan area, the Israeli army in the early hours of this morning ordered the complete evacuation of Rafah city, telling people to move to the al-Mawasi evacuation zone that is supposed to be safe.

But as we have seen in the past, this area that is designated as an area for displaced people has not been safe at all.

Many people died within days and hours of their arrival to al-Mawasi, and unfortunately, it turned into more of a death trap. As soon as people left their homes and went to al-Mawasi, they would be bombed and maimed and killed inside the evacuation zone.

So far, there are two people reported killed [in Rafah today], and that’s what we know from the paramedics who were able to recover the bodies from the area, which was attacked by heavy artillery and drones.

But the fact that this is happening is largely viewed by people here as a way to expand the buffer zone from the Philadelphi Corridor into the centre of the city.

It’s also viewed as more pressure applied in order for Hamas to release captives.

But either way, civilians are paying the price. There is more blood that is being shed in Rafah city, more people are being pushed into internal displacement and enduring much of the hardship.

Rafah city at some point had a population of 300,000 people. Last year, it became the home of one million displaced Palestinians from across the Gaza Strip. And now, people in Rafah are being pushed into internal displacement one more time.

‘Supplies are running out’: OCHA

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that supplies are running out in Gaza amid intensified Israel attacks and mass forced displacement.

“Humanitarian agencies are working around the clock to support people,” the agency said in a post on X. “But as long as we’re not allowed to bring in any critical commodities there only is so much we can do.”

Humanitarian agencies are working around the clock to support people in #Gaza amid a surge in casualties and displacement.

But as long as we're not allowed to bring in any critical commodities there only is so much we can do.

Supplies are running out. #OpenUpGaza pic.twitter.com/rIwrXVw1gZ

— OCHA OPT (Palestine) (@ochaopt) March 31, 2025

Mother of three children killed in Israeli attack collapses at hospital

There is ongoing heavy machine-gun shooting in the eastern part of the Shujayea and Zeitoun neighbourhoods of Gaza City. It seems that the Israeli military is putting more pressure on the few families who are remaining in these areas simply because there’s no other place to go or to evacuate.

They are also targeting the remaining residential buildings in the area with heavy artillery.

Earlier, in the late afternoon, a residential home in Gaza City was targeted and destroyed by fighter jets during a busy time. This is the second day of Eid and families were visiting each other, offering Eid greetings, when the attack happened.

One family member told us that he was five minutes away from visiting his sister, who was killed in the strike. We saw a mother inside the hospital, collapsed and crying … [she was] the mother of three kids who were killed in the attack.

Twelve people were killed in this strike. The last body that was recovered from under the rubble was brought here, along with a plastic bag that was full of the flesh of another body that was recovered from under the rubble. Children, women and men killed in this attack were from one family.

And this wasn’t the only attack today. At least 34 people have been killed across Gaza, more than half of them women and children.

Israel aims to occupy 25 percent of Gaza in new operation, official says: Axios report

Axios has quoted an Israeli official as saying that Israel will expand its ground operation in Gaza to occupy 25 percent of the Palestinian territory over the next two to three weeks in order to pressure Hamas to release the remaining captives.

“The Israeli official said the ground operation is part of a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign aimed at forcing Hamas to agree to release more hostages,” Axios reported.

“But reoccupation could go beyond Israel’s stated objectives of the war and could serve as a pretence for pressing Palestinians to leave Gaza.”

‘One of the darkest times for our common humanity’: UNRWA chief

The head of UNRWA has condemned Israeli orders forcibly displacing Palestinians in Gaza amid a heightened military offensive.

“People are treated like pinballs with constant military orders playing with their fate and lives,” the agency’s commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, wrote in a post on X.

Lazzarini noted that the latest displacement order, affecting all residents of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, is impacting more than 140,000 people.

“Where are people supposed to move? Unlike in other conflicts, where populations can find safety, Gaza is being bombarded all across. It is sealed off like a cage with borders shut and basics not allowed in,” he wrote.

“Two million people, half of them children, live there. How is this allowed, at the world’s watch, with no checks and balances.”

Lazzarini called the war “one of the darkest times for our common humanity”.

As if death, diseases, destruction and hunger were not enough for the Palestinians in #Gaza

People are treated like pinballs with constant military orders playing with their fate & lives.
The Israeli Authorities issued today more forced displacement orders in #Rafah impacting…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 31, 2025

UNICEF says 322 children killed in Gaza since Israel resumed attacks

At least 322 children have been killed in Gaza since Israel resumed its attacks on the territory on March 18, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said, and at least 609 children have also been injured.

“Most of these children were displaced, sheltering in makeshift tents or damaged homes,” the agency added, noting that some of the children killed were being treated at Nasser Hospital, in southern Gaza, which Israel attacked on March 23.

“The resurgence of relentless and indiscriminate bombardments, combined with the complete block on supplies entering the Gaza Strip for more than three weeks, has put the humanitarian response under severe strain and Gaza’s civilians – especially its one million children – at grave risk,” the agency added.

More than 15,000 children have been killed during the 18-month war, over 34,000 were injured, and nearly one million were repeatedly displaced.

Houthi media say US strikes hit Yemen’s Kamaran Island

The Yemeni group’s Al Masirah TV has reported “US aggression on Kamaran Island with two strikes”, quoting its correspondent in Hodeidah.

The island is the largest Yemeni one in the Red Sea and is located off the port city of Hodeidah.

Moments earlier, Trump had warned the Houthis and their Iranian backers they would face “real pain” from more attacks should they keep threatening shipping.

Since then, the Houthis have announced attacks targeting US military ships and Israel.

Houthi-held parts of Yemen have witnessed near-daily attacks since Washington launched a campaign against the rebels on March 15 to force them to stop threatening vessels in key maritime routes.

That day saw a wave of US air strikes that officials said killed senior Houthi leaders and that the Health Ministry said killed 53 people.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim US drone downing

Yahya Saree, the military spokesman of the Houthi rebels, says in a statement that air defences shot down a US MQ-9 drone over Yemen’s central province of Marib.

The spokesman said the group continues to “prevent Israeli navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas”.

Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich resigns from government

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has resigned from his post in a letter to Netanyahu.

A spokesperson for Smotrich said his resignation was a protest against a request by his erstwhile far-right ally, Jewish Power party head Itamar Ben-Gvir, for more ministerial positions upon Ben-Gvir’s return to the government.

The resignation is not likely to collapse Netanyahu’s coalition. The government passed its 2025 budget in Israel’s parliament last week.

Ben-Gvir, a former national security minister, left the government in January in protest against the ceasefire in Gaza but said he would rejoin the coalition this month after Israel resumed its war on the territory.

The parties of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir ran together in the last elections but operate independently.

The two figures share a far-right agenda and have both called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza, but they have been at odds in recent weeks over funding for the police and Smotrich criticised Ben-Gvir for quitting the government in January.

Main events on March 31st

Israel proposes 40-day Gaza ceasefire deal for release of 11 captives: Report

Haaretz, citing a senior Israeli official, reports that Israel has offered Hamas a ceasefire through mediators Egypt and Qatar in exchange for the release of 11 living captives and the return of 16 bodies, in addition to providing information on the remaining captives in Gaza.

Israel would also release an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners from its jails, the newspaper said.

The official said that on the fifth day of the deal, Israel would request information from Hamas regarding the rest of the captives in its custody.

Under the Israeli proposal, Tel Aviv would ask Hamas to release the bodies of 16 Israeli captives on the 10th day of the agreement. Israeli estimates indicate that 59 captives remain in Gaza, including 24 who are alive.

No comments have been issued by Israel, Hamas or the mediators on the report.


US blames Hamas for Israel’s killing of 15 emergency workers in Gaza

US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce made the comments when asked about Israeli forces killing the humanitarian workers and destroying their vehicles last week.

“Every single thing that is happening in Gaza is happening because of Hamas,” Bruce told reporters. “All of this could stop in a moment if Hamas returned all the hostages and the hostage bodies they are still holding and put down its weapons,” she said.

“All loss of life is regrettable,” Bruce added, “whoever it is, wherever they live”. However, she said “for too long, Hamas has abused civilian infrastructure, cynically using it to shield themselves”, and their “actions have caused humanitarians to be caught in the crossfire”.

Hamas denies the claim, while experts say Israel’s claim that the Palestinian group uses civilians as human shields does not hold up to scrutiny, as Israeli forces have bombed hospitals, ambulances and schools on numerous occasions, causing mass casualties, without evidence of fighters being in the vicinity. And even if the claim were true, they say it is not enough to justify or explain the magnitude of death and destruction in Gaza.

Palestinian authorities say Israeli forces have killed 1,402 medical personnel and 111 emergency workers since launching the war on Gaza.

United States of Israel is now fully Netanyahu's propaganda machine.