Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/East Jerusalem, Lebanon, and Yemen - April 12, 2025
ACTION ITEMS FOR THE WEEK
1. Tax Day is April 15. Join with the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) to tell your representatives: Stop using my tax dollars to fund Israel’s genocide. here
Then use these USCPR resources to demand your local government stop investing your tax dollars in weapons manufacturers, complicit corporations, and Israel Bonds. here
2. Attend the JVP National Meeting in Baltimore, May 1-4. This will be the largest US gathering of Jews and our allies for struggling for justice in Palestine and here at home. Attend a Health Advisory Council panel presenting 3 doctors recently returned from Gaza (Friday May 2, 9:30-11am in Room #: BCC 324) and lunchtime meetup sessions Friday and Saturday can help you connect with other health workers. (Registration closed 4/4/25.) [note time change for our panel]
Webinars
Scientists for Palestine present Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning, with Peter Beinart, CUNY and editor of Jewish Currents, in conversation with Assaf Khfoury, Steering Committee member for the Bisan Lecture Series, on Wednesday April 16th, at 7pm Palestine/ 12 noon NYC/ 9am Pacific. Register here.
Journal articles
In BMC Psychiatry, a cross-sectional study on PTSD among Al-Quds University students during the war on Gaza. High PTSD symptom severity reported among 71.3% of participants. here
In Middle East Current Psychiatry, a systematic review of studies assessing challenges of sustaining mental health services in Gaza during the war. Key challenges identified: infrastructure damage, limited access to services, a shortage of trained professionals, and economic hardship/poverty. here
UN on Gaza
4/7 Joint Statement by OCHA, UNICEF, UNOPS, UNRWA, WFP, WHO and IOM: Save Palestinians in Gaza
For over a month, no commercial or humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza. More than 2.1 million people are trapped, bombed and starved again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck. Over 1,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured in just the first week after the breakdown of the ceasefire, the highest one-week death toll among children in Gaza in the past year…The partially functional health system is overwhelmed...
We are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life. New Israeli displacement orders have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee yet again, with no safe place to go. No one is safe…
We appeal to world leaders to act – firmly, urgently and decisively – to ensure the basic principles of international humanitarian law are upheld. Protect civilians. Facilitate aid. Release hostages. Renew a ceasefire. The complete statement here:
4/8 press briefing by UN Secretary-General
More than an entire month has passed without a drop of aid into Gaza. No food. No fuel. No medicine. No commercial supplies. As aid has dried up, the floodgates of horror have re-opened. Gaza is a killing field – and civilians are in an endless death loop. Certain truths are clear since the atrocious October 7 terror attacks by Hamas. Above all, we know ceasefires work. The ceasefire allowed for the release of hostages. The ceasefire ensured the distribution of lifesaving aid…
For weeks -- guns fell silent, obstacles were removed, looting ended – and we were able to deliver lifesaving supplies to virtually every part of the Gaza Strip. That all ended with the shattering of the ceasefire… In times like this, we must be crystal clear about the situation. With crossing points into Gaza shut and aid blockaded, security is in shambles and our capacity to deliver has been strangled… We must also be clear about the obligations. As the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law – including international humanitarian law and international human rights law…
UN agencies and our partners are ready and determined to deliver. But the Israeli authorities newly proposed “authorization mechanisms” for aid delivery risk further controlling and callously limiting aid down to the last calorie and grain of flour.
Let me be clear: We will not participate in any arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. Unimpeded humanitarian access must be guaranteed. And humanitarian personnel must be given the protection that they are accorded under international law… We must stick to our core principles. Member States of the United Nations must adhere to their obligations under international law. And there must be justice and accountability when they do not…
The current path is a dead end – totally intolerable in the eyes of international law and history. And the risk of the occupied West Bank transforming into another Gaza makes it even worse.It is time to end the dehumanization, protect civilians, release the hostages, ensure lifesaving aid, and renew the ceasefire.
See the complete statement here:
GAZA
Israel’s siege of Gaza continues; no food or supplies have entered since 3/2. Malnutrition is the norm, starvation is imminent. Genocidal killings have increased, with 1,449 killed since Israel broke the ceasefire. 390,000 people have been displaced in the past 3 weeks; Israel has declared 2/3 of the Gaza Strip “off-limits” to Palestinians.
• This week: 287 Palestinians killed, 912 injured
• Since the breaking of the ceasefire: 1,449 Palestinians killed, 3,647 injured
• Killed since 10/23/2023: 50,810+
• Injured since 10/23/2023: 115,688+
• Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza: 407 (0 this week)
• Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza: 2,587 (4 this week)
• Hostages in Gaza: 59
March 2025 Israel Prison Service (IPS) data lists: 9,406 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 1,486 sentenced prisoners, 2,960 remand detainees, 3,405 administrative detainees (held without trial), and 1,555 “unlawful combatants.” These figures do not include Palestinians from Gaza still detained by the Israeli military since 10/2023.
For more Gaza data: Snapshot
Israeli attacks
• Israel now controls 50% of Gaza. The largest contiguous area the army controls is around the Gaza border, where the military has razed Palestinian homes, farmland and infrastructure to the point of uninhabitability, according to Israeli soldiers and rights groups. This military buffer zone has doubled in size in recent weeks. here
• 4/6, 8 people were killed (a female journalist and other women and children) in Khan Younis. 4/7, a media tent at the Nasser Medical Complex (Khan Younis) killed 2 (1 journalist) and injured 9 journalists, 1 of whom, Ahmed Mansour, was burned alive and died the next day. The Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC) stated: “the deliberate targeting of journalists constitutes a war crime and reflects a broader, systematic pattern of grave human rights violations committed by Israel against civilians—especially journalists—who are entitled to protection under international humanitarian law.” The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) also condemned the attack and the increase in media workers killed to 208.
• 4/3, 4 killed in a school east of Gaza city.
• 4/4, 25 killed and others injured or missing under rubble of a building in Khan Younis.
• 4/4, 3 children killed and others injured when a bicycle was hit in Khan Younis.
• 4/6, 9 killed (4 children) and 27 injured in Khan Younis.
• 4/5 & 7, 2 food distribution points were hit in Khan Younis, killing 10 (2 children).
• Israeli forces struck Dar al-Arqam school in the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City killing at least 27 and injuring more than 70. Al-Ahli Hospital reported a large number of the casualties were “children, and many of the wounded need surgical intervention due to their injuries in vital areas such as the chest and abdomen. Unfortunately, a number of them need amputation of limbs.” here
• al-Shuja’iyia: Israel Targets Entire Residential Squares and Kills Civilians as Part of its Forced Displacement Policy here
Rafah Massacre of Emergency Health Workers
• NYTimes published video showing Gazan ambulances with emergency lights on under intense gunfire, contradicting military claims vehicles approached soldiers “suspiciously” without emergency signals. Military continues to deny Gaza aid workers were bound and executed despite footage to the contrary. President of the Red Crescent in the West Bank, Younis Al-Khatib, told journalists in Ramallah: “There has been an autopsy of the martyrs from the Red Crescent and civil defense teams. We cannot disclose everything we know, but I will say that all the martyrs were shot in the upper part of their bodies, with the intent to kill.” They were found buried in an unmarked grave.
• 360 Israeli medical professionals, half of them doctors, signed a letter demanding an investigation and the prosecution of those responsible.
• Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide also called for an investigation of Israel’s attack on Rafah aid workers.
• More on Democracy Now here
Health & Hospitals
• 4/1, MSF reported a staff member at their urgent care unit in Khan Younis was killed along with his wife and 28-year-old daughter. 4/6, Red Crescent stated 2 staff at their Al Amal hospital (Khan Younis) were killed along with their 3 children by an airstrike on their home. Since 10/7/2023, at least 412 aid workers (291 UN staff) have been killed.
• 4/7, 2 health workers were killed as they left their Gaza City facility.
• 12 of 17 hospitals are partially functional; and 17 of 41 PHCs are functional (13 partially); and there is only 1 field hospital.
• At Al Shifa Hospital, doctors must discharge patients early to make room for trauma cases needing surgery, according to WHO. WHO-provided tent with 10 inpatient beds is in place. A new 70-bed surgical and orthopedic wing is also under construction.
• 4/6, WHO reached Al Ahli Hospital (Gaza City) with an international orthopedic emergency medical team, some supplies, and enabling patient transfers to Al-Shifa Hospital. Al Ahli’s CT scanner — the only one in northern Gaza — has broken from sustained overuse. 50 of 160 blood units were used in a single day, and the hospital’s 3 operating theaters cannot meet the demand for surgeries. The hospital’s ER was pushed to 8 times its capacity following an Israeli airstrike on a school; they received over 180 injuries and 52 fatalities in just one night. Dr. Khamis Elessi said: “the vast majority of casualties are women and children. We need more doctors, more emergency physicians, more vascular surgeons and neurosurgeons. And more efforts to stop this and to open a safe passage for people who want to get treated outside.”
• Inside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, Palestinian doctors are losing patients they could have saved because of shortages of supplies and medicine. here
• The health system is overwhelmed with casualties and depleting stocks of medicines and supplies due to the Israeli blockade. On World Health Day, WHO reported supply shortages for maternal/ child health (for C-sections, anesthesia, blood units). Essential medical equipment (incubators, ventilators, ultrasound machines, oxygen pumps) is withheld entry by Israel. 180,000 doses of routine childhood vaccines have been withheld. The MoH reported medical teams and ambulance crews have run out of 37% of medicines and 59% of supplies. The destruction of diagnostic imaging equipment and fuel shortages limit hospitals' functioning.
• Israel’s ban on the entry of polio vaccines puts 602,000 children at risk of "permanent paralysis, and chronic disabilities" says MoH. here
Displacement & Evacuation
• Between 3/18-4/6, the Israeli military issued 15 displacement orders, placing 130.8 sq.km. (36% of Gaza) under active displacement orders. Israeli authorities also demand UN coordination of movements in the “no-go” zone (Gaza’s perimeter and the Wadi Gaza). These areas comprise about 66% of the Gaza Strip. Over 390,000 people were displaced, including families sheltering at 320 displacement sites. The 2 recent orders (4/3 & 4/6) covered 8.2 sq.km. and included 12 DP sites, 1 field hospital, 3 Primary Health Care Centers and 3 medical points. How many people remain in the “no-go” zones and displacement areas is unknown, because aid delivery there is blocked by Israeli authorities.
• Israeli soldiers in Gaza have admitted to systematically demolishing buildings under the pretext of establishing a buffer zone, reports the Israeli human rights group Breaking the Silence. The soldiers said much of the destruction—of homes, infrastructure, and agricultural land—occurred with no direct threats to Israeli forces.
• Gaza City residents report the Israeli army is sending booby-trapped vehicles into neighborhoods and detonating them remotely.
AID
• Between 4/3-7, of 36 planned aid movements across Gaza coordinated with Israeli authorities, 25 were denied, 1 impeded, and 10 facilitated. Of 14 in the north, 5 were facilitated and 9 were denied. In the south, 5 were facilitated, 16 denied and 1 impeded.
• Israeli minister openly admits to using starvation against Gaza. here
Water & Sanitation
• A significant reduction in water supply through Israeli pipelines, coupled with the lack of power, fuel, spare parts and access, jeopardizes access to drinking water and hygiene. Only 1 of 3 Mekorot water pipelines from Israel is functional—the Bani Suheila connection in Khan Younis. Power cuts have caused an 85% reduction in water production.
• UNICEF estimates that drinking water access for one million people (400,000 children) dropped from 16 litres per day during the ceasefire to just 6, warning if “fuel runs out in the coming weeks, this could drop below 4 liters, forcing families to use unsafe water, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks, particularly among children.”
• Over 250 health care facilities are awaiting essential infection prevention and control supplies, currently kept out of Gaza. This places an additional burden on Gaza’s already overwhelmed health care workforce, amid an exceptionally serious depletion of essential medical and trauma supplies while hospitals are inundated with casualties.
Food & Nutrition
• UNICEF warns that that the Israeli blockade on aid will lead to a surge of malnutrition, disease and other preventable conditions, including child deaths. There is no more ready-to-use complementary food for infants In central and southern Gaza, infant formula stocks are sufficient for only 400 children. “UNICEF has thousands of pallets of aid waiting to enter the Gaza Strip,” said UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa Edouard Beigbeder. “Most of this aid is lifesaving – yet instead of saving lives, it is sitting in storage. It must be allowed in immediately. This is not a choice or charity; it is an obligation under international law.” Displacement orders and bombardment have forced the closure of 15% of nutrition sites, interrupting treatment for about 350 acutely malnourished children.
• At least 60,000 children in the Gaza Strip are at risk of serious health complications due to malnutrition” as food supplies dwindle amid Israel’s blockade of aid. here
• All the World Food Program-supported bakeries are closed for lack of supplies, exacerbating hunger. here
Environmental destruction
• The severe environmental crisis in Gaza affects water, agriculture, and waste management, according to a recent report by the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network. The destruction of infrastructure and heavy military vehicle activity exacerbate water pollution, reduced agricultural output, and soil degradation. The vast majority of fields once used to grow crops and olive tree orchards have been damaged or destroyed, solid waste management services are on the brink of collapse, and there is widespread environmental contamination by an estimated 50 million tons of debris, unrecovered bodies, open burning of waste, and unexploded ordinance. The report calls for urgent, coordinated efforts to rebuild Gaza’s environmental infrastructure and mitigate long-term socio-economic and public health impacts.
THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM
• In the past 2 weeks, Israeli forces killed 9 Palestinians (2 children) and injured 130 (34 children).
• Killed since October 2023: 1,073 (226 children) and injured: 16,813 (2,610 children).
• So far in 2025, 7 Israelis, including 5 members of Israeli armed forces, were killed by Palestinians, all in the northern West Bank.
For more detail: here
Israeli attacks
• 3/25, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the body of a Palestinian man from Al ‘Eizariya.
• 3/25, Israeli drone killed an 18-year-old in Qalqiliya. They withheld the body and injured 2 others with live ammunition.
• 3/26, Israeli military shot, killed and withheld the body of an 18-year-old on the road between Huwwara and Beita (Nablus).
• 3/29, Israeli forces surrounded a house and shot and killed a man in Tammun, near Tubas.
• 4/2, Israeli forces shot and killed a man after raiding his Nablus home, detaining his brother.
• 4/2, Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old boy and injured 2 others during a raid in Silat al Harithiya (Jenin).
• 4/3, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the body of a man, after he threw stones at vehicles near Husan (Bethlehem).
• 4/4, Israeli forces shot and killed a fleeing man in Jenin as they searched his house.
• 4/6, Israeli military shot and killed a 14-year-old boy and injured two others with live ammunition while picking almonds in a field near Rt. 60 in Turmus’ayya (Ramallah). The military claimed they were throwing stones at Israeli vehicles.
Settler violence
In the past 2 weeks, settlers carried out 44 attacks against Palestinians, more than half in Bedouin communities, injuring 25 (5 children), and damaging 290 olive trees, 6 vehicles, 10 houses, 1 chicken coop, and agricultural equipment and farm animals.
• 4/1, dozens of settlers broke into Duma village (Nablus), set fire to 5 vehicles and a chicken coop, and graffitied the walls of homes. Israeli forces raided the village and fired tear gas and live ammunition, injuring 3 who were taken to a hospital. Another attack in Jurish village (Nablus) uprooted 200 olive trees. Water infrastructure was damaged in 5 incidents-- irrigation networks, water tanks, and pipelines (including a 1,700-metre pipeline serving farmland in An Nazla ash Sharqiya village (Tulkarm). 10 incidents involved theft or harm to farm animals.
• Masafer Yatta in the south Hebron hills has seen a sharp, sustained escalation in settler violence. Compared to the average of the past 15 years, the scale of increase is stark: only 18 incidents were documented between 2006 and 2020; 180 incidents between 2021-2024; and 5 per month over the past 2 years.
• Jinba community of Masafer Yatta was attacked on 3/28 by a settler on a quad bike who beat a man and his 17-year-old son with a stick. The Red Crescent transported them to hospital. 2 hours later, a group of armed settlers broke into a residence, injuring a 60-year-old man and his 2 teenaged sons, damaging belongings and breaking windows. All were transported to hospital, the 14-year-old in critical condition. Residents later threw stones at the settlers, injuring 2, after which Israeli forces raided the community and handcuffed, blindfolded and detained all the males. They released 13 detainees and held 22, including a boy. In the early hours of 3/29, Israeli forces raided the community, causing extensive damage to 22 residences, a school, a clinic, a mosque, animal shelters and agricultural assets. Settlers wearing military-style uniforms killed 2 sheep and stole 3. They left after 4 hours, with no arrests reported.
• 3/29, the Israeli security cabinet approved the construction of a road between Az Za’ayem and Al Eizariya towns (Jerusalem) to serve “Palestinian traffic” travelling between the central and southern West Bank, so they will avoid the large Ma’ale Adumim settlement and the expanded Barrier (approved by the Israeli Cabinet in 2006). These developments would effectively sever the geographic connection between the central and southern West Bank, heighten the risk of forcible displacement for 18 Bedouin communities in the area, and increase demolitions. Over the past 2 weeks, 9 structures were demolished in Anata and North 'Anata Bedouin community (Area C, Jerusalem) on the periphery of the road project.
Demolitions & Displacement
Between 3/25-4/7, Israeli authorities demolished 105 Palestinian-owned structures for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 122 (64 children) and affecting 200+people.
• 4/6 Israeli forces demolished 33 structures (11 residential tents, 16 animal structures, and 6 latrines) and damaged water tanks and solar panels in Khirbet ar Ras al Ahmar community, in an Israeli-designated firing zone. They displaced 5 households (33 people, 19 children) who had in 2/25 been forcibly displaced from Ein al Hilwa - Wadi al Faw community by settler violence. In 2025, the monthly average of structures demolished (46) and people displaced (30) in Jordan Valley communities have both doubled compared to 2024, when on average of 23 structures were demolished and 15 people were displaced monthly.
• 4/8, according to UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini, Israeli officials from Jerusalem Municipality and Israeli forces forcibly entered and presented closure orders, effective in 30 days, to 6 UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem (800 students). “These illegal closure orders come in the wake of Israeli Knesset legislation seeking to curtail UNRWA operations. UNRWA is committed to stay and deliver education and other basic services to Palestine Refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in accordance with the General Assembly resolution mandated to the Agency.” Roland Friedrich, Director of UNRWA Affairs for the West Bank, reiterated that “UNRWA schools are operationally independent and inviolable under international law.”
• Also on 4/8, Israeli forces raided Al Quds University, firing tear gas, stun grenades and live ammunition. PRCS reported 26 Palestinians were injured.
• Between 3/25-4/7, Israeli forces raided 12 West Bank refugee camps, injuring 40 (9 children) and detaining 30. 3/25, Israeli forces raided 15 homes in al Fawwar refugee camp (Hebron) damaging belongings, shooting a 14-year-old child, and injuring a 2-year-old with tear gas. They also searched and damaged a PRCS ambulance, injuring 2 paramedics. 4/2, Israeli forces raided 8 houses in Ad Duheisha camp (Bethlehem), injuring 13, 2 by gunshots, and detaining 15.
• UN World Food Program 2024 report for Palestine shows escalating violence & movement restrictions have increased economic hardship & food insecurity, and limited access to services. 700,000 people needed food assistance in 2024, a 17% increase. 40% of WFP-supported households maintained borderline and poor food consumption; and 67% of households adopted crisis or emergency measures to meet needs.
Developments in the northern West Bank
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk stated: “Israeli operations in the northern West Bank have killed hundreds, destroyed entire refugee camps and makeshift medical sites, and displaced over 40,000 Palestinians. The announcement that residents must not return to their homes for a year raises serious concerns about long-term mass displacement.”
• 4/8, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the body of a Palestinian woman from Bidya village (Salfit) who threw stones at Israeli forces near Ariel settlement. Over 90% of West Bank Palestinians killed by Israeli forces were in the 6 northern governorates of Jenin, Tubas, Nablus, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Salfit.
• 4/9, Israeli forces launched a 24-hour operation in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus. Enforcing a curfew, Israeli forces conducted a large search and arrest operation in the camp, entering homes and detaining residents. 4 homes have been evacuated, displacing 8 families.
• Water, sanitation and hygiene remain precarious in areas damaged by Israeli operations. 4/3, Israeli military bulldozers tore up an 800m. road segment in Tulkarm city, damaging water and sewage networks, which the municipality worked to repair the next day. In Jenin, 15,000 people still depend on trucks for water.
ISRAEL
• Rami Davidian, who claimed to have heroically rescued hundreds of people from Hamas fighters on 10/7/23, exposed by a high-profile mainstream Israeli journalist as a liar who made up stories “from beginning to end.” This “shocking expose” comes a year after The Electronic Intifada investigations concluded the same thing. here
• New Israeli Guidelines Threaten to Eliminate Humanitarian Action in the Occupied Palestinian Territory Almost Entirely. Israel has systematically denied work visas and permits for staff of humanitarian organizations. Palestinian and expatriate colleagues in our international organization are thus barred from entering Israel and accessing occupied East Jerusalem, where our office is located. here
UNITED STATES
• Pro-Palestinian protest by Microsoft employees interrupted the company's 50th anniversary celebration, the latest backlash over the tech industry's work to supply AI technology to the Israeli military. Microsoft fired 2 AI software engineers: Ibtihal Aboussad, for “willful misconduct, disobedience, or neglect of duty,” according to CNBC; and Vaniya Agrawal, forced to resign early.
• During a Global Strike for Gaza protest in NYC on 4/7, participants from Within our Lifetime faced attacks enabled and protected by the NYPD. Bleach, feces, and rocks were thrown at protestors from the window of a luxury highrise; and Nerdeen Kiswani, chair of Within our Lifetime, 8 months pregnant, was assaulted by police.
• Project Esther and Christian Nationalism. JVP Academic Advisory Council critiques Project Esther, a Heritage Foundation strategy document that purports to “combat antisemitism” in institutions across the US. The Council argues that strategy’s true aim is instituting a campaign of state and political repression against advocates for Palestinian freedom. The Christian Nationalists who wrote the piece co-opt the biblical story of Esther to nefariously suggest that criticisms of Israeli policies, such as its ethnic cleansing of Gaza, threaten Jewish safety. The authors contend that antisemitism can only truly be addressed when the Jewish community stands in solidarity with groups marginalized by the forces of racism, colonialism, and nationalism. here
US Universities
• JVP Academic Council condemns the Federal government’s attempt to intimidate US universities into repressing their students, faculty and staff. This direct assault on the autonomy of higher education in the US follows from the stated aims of the “Federal Task Force on Antisemitism,” which has announced investigations of 63 colleges and universities around the country so far. This is actually a vehicle for enacting anti-Palestinian racism and a pretext for a broader attack on academia, justifying the dismantling of higher education, and restrictions on free speech for visa and green card holders. here
• Trump’s pro-Palestinian activism crackdown closely mirrors a plan from the creators of Project 2025, As President Donald Trump was seeking to distance himself from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation quietly released a blueprint to destroy the pro-Palestinian movement. Many of its recommendations have since become policy. here
• Trump administration abruptly revoked student visas at dozens of colleges. Dozens of colleges have announced that the Department of Homeland Security had revoked visas and ended the legal statuses of international students or recent graduates, sometimes without notifying them. At least 147 students have been affected. here
• Columbia: An op-ed by Mahmoud Khalil, dictated from an ICE detention center in Louisiana, blasts Columbia’s role in his abduction and the targeting of other student activists by the Trump administration, urging students not to abdicate their responsibility to resist repression. A Louisiana court ruled that Marco Rubio’s 2-page letter (filled with falsehoods) was sufficient to support Khalil’s detention and deportation. Khalil’s lawyers will appeal. here, here
• Ohio State: the College of Medicine canceled its 2025 Global Health Symposium because of scheduled keynote “Beyond the Ivory Tower: A Dialogue on Humanitarian Medicine – Gaza: A War on Healthcare” by Nick Maynard. here
• Princeton: $210m in research grants to Princeton were suspended by the energy and defense departments and NASA, under guise of federal investigation of “antisemitism.”
• Stanford: County prosecutors filed felony charges against 12 pro-Palestinian protesters for breaking into an administration building and occupying it in 2024.
• Tufts: Rümeysa Öztürk, in ICE custody, says she has suffered multiple asthma attacks, has had difficulty getting care, and had her hijab ripped off without permission.
• Tufts student Ozturk’s immigration arrest case was moved to Vermont, not Louisiana, by US judge, defying Trumps efforts. here
• UCLA: The Fielding School of Public Health canceled a student-led course on Palestine, already approved by the Dept. of Community Health Sciences and open for enrollment. here
• University of Minnesota received a letter from the Department of Education alleging Title VI violations involving claims of antisemitism and warning of potential enforcement actions. UMN joined the Hillel Campus Climate Initiative, Academic Engagement Network (AEN), advocacy from Zionist Jewish students and faculty groups, and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
• Harvard faculty in recent months have ramped up organizing efforts, including by launching the AAUP chapter on the heels of the Gaza encampment last spring and the university’s response. here
• University announces new mandatory training to combat discrimination, harassment. Brown community members are required to complete the training by the end of the spring semester. Not clear who will teach the course. here
LEBANON
• UNRWA services are important, particularly maternal child health services, for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who cannot access Lebanon’s public health system. here
YEMEN
• Pramila Jayapal and 32 other Representatives have written a letter demanding President Trump’s legal rationale for airstrikes that killed dozens of Yemenis, a first step toward stopping future attacks under the 1973 War Powers Act. here
EUROPE
• British human rights lawyers have submitted a report to the Metropolitan Police accusing 10 British citizens who served in the Israeli military of war crimes in Gaza.
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced public hearings (4/28-5/2) to provide an advisory opinion on Israel’s legal obligations regarding the provision of essential services and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population in the OPT.
SOURCES
OCHAOPT, Al-Jazeera, BMC Psychiatry, CUNY4Palestine, DropSiteNews, the Guardian, Haaretz, Intercept, Middle East Eye, Middle East Psychiatry, Mondoweiss, NYTimes, Palestine Chronicle, Washington Post, Zeteo, Brown Daily Herald, AP News, The Crimson, Politico, Apple News, Contending Modernities, Jewish Voice for Peace, Just Security, Palestine Center for Human Rights, PBS, Democracy Now