Gaza live: Biden moves ahead with military aid for Israel as it launches ground assaults on Rafah

Turkey's trade halt with Israel will continue until a permanent ceasefire in Gaza is secured as well as unhindered humanitarian aid flow to the region, Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat said on Friday.

Turkey stopped all exports and imports to and from Israel on Thursday, citing the "worsening humanitarian tragedy" in the Palestinian territories.

Israel's uncompromising attitude and worsening situation in Gaza prompted Turkey to halt trade, Bolat said in a speech in Istanbul while announcing April trade figures. The two countries had a trade volume of $6.8bn in 2023.

Reporting by Reuters

Hundreds of people protesting Israel's war on Gaza rallied at one of Australia's top universities on Friday demanding it divest from companies with ties to Israel, in a movement inspired by the student occupations sweeping US campuses.

Pro-Palestinian activists set up an encampment last week outside the sandstone main hall at University of Sydney, one of Australia's largest tertiary institutions.

Similar camps have sprung up at universities in Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian cities.

Unlike in the US, where police have forcibly removed scores of defiant pro-Palestinian protesters at several colleges, protest sites in Australia have been peaceful with scant police presence.

On Friday, protesters rallied to demand the University of Sydney divest from companies with ties to Israel, echoing calls from students in the US, Canada and France.

Reporting by Reuters

Iran has released the crew of a seized Portuguese-flagged ship linked to Israel, but remains in control of the vessel itself, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the container ship MSC Aries, with a crew of 25, in the Strait of Hormuz on 13 April, days after Tehran vowed to retaliate for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus. Iran had said it could close the crucial shipping route.

“The seized ship, which turned off its radar in Iran's territorial waters and jeopardised the security of navigation, is under judicial detention,” Amirabdollahian said, according to a foreign ministry post on X late Thursday night.

He said the release of the crew was a humanitarian act and they could return to their countries along with the ship’s captain.

Iran’s foreign ministry had earlier said the Aries was seized for "violating maritime laws" and that there was no doubt it was linked to Israel.

MSC leases the Aries from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, which is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.

Reporting by Reuters 

The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has formally recognised the State of Palestine. 

In a press release, the foreign ministry said the government determined the decision "will assist in the achievement of a lasting peace by strengthening the growing international consensus on the issue of Palestinian statehood".

"Trinidad and Tobago has a long history of principled support for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The Government’s consistent position is that a two-state solution is the only way out of the ongoing cycle of violence.

"This is our consistent foreign policy position, which is founded on Trinidad and Tobago’s respect for and adherence to international law and to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday he did not see any indication Hamas was planning any attack on US troops in Gaza but added adequate measures were being put in place for the safety of military personnel.

"I don't discuss intelligence information at the podium. But I don't see any indications currently that there is an active intent to do that," Austin said during a press briefing.

"Having said that ... this is a combat zone and a number of things can happen, and a number of things will happen."

A maritime pier constructed by the US military to speed the flow of humanitarian aid in Gaza should be open within a matter of days, despite poor weather hampering preparations, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday.

Reporting by Reuters

Good evening MEE readers. On Thursday, the wife of Mohammed al-Hajjar, our correspondent in Gaza, was arbitrarily detained by Israeli forces as their family was heading to the south of the enclave.

"'I'm telling you to leave,' the soldier told me, and about eight soldiers pointed their guns at me, took Inas, who had her hands up, and searched her," Hajjar recalled.

"They kept telling me to leave and not look back."

As of writing this update, we have no new information on Inas's situation.

In other developments:

• An Israeli air strike hit a Syrian security building in Damascus, injuring eight soldiers, according to a report by Reuters and a separate report from state-run news.

• Five people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

• Turkey suspended all trade with Israel effective immediately over the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's military in Gaza.

• The student encampment movement has spread now to the UK, where dozens of students at University College London (UCL) set up a pro-Palestine encampment to demand the university divest from Israel and end any potential complicity in Israel's war on Gaza. UCL is the alma mater of the late Palestinian poet and academic, Refaat Alareer, who was killed in Gaza by an Israeli air strike last year.

• Adnan Al-Bursh, a Palestinian surgeon and professor of orthopedic medicine, was killed as a result of being tortured while in Israeli detention. His death, which occured on 18 April, was announced on Thursday.

• A report by Bloomberg found that Saudi Arabia is detaining citizens who express views critical of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza online. Lina al-Hathloul, from the rights group ALQST, said the news "exposes the lies around potential normalisation between Saudi Arabia and Israel".

• Israel told the Biden administration that if the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, it will "punish" the Palestinian Authority, according to a report from Axios.

Eight soldiers were wounded in an Israeli air strike, according to Syria's defence ministry.

The attack hit an area in Damascus, and there were also some “material losses”, it said, as reported by Syria's state-run broadcaster, Sana.

Reuters reported earlier that an Israeli strike hit a building operated by Syrian security forces on the outskirts of Damascus.

Turkey suspended all trade with Israel effective immediately over the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel in Gaza, the Turkish trade ministry announced on Thursday. 

“Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products,” the ministry said.

“Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli Government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.” 

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Turkey was halting all trade with Israel.

To read the full story, click below.

Turkey halts all trade with Israel over war

An Israeli strike hit a building operated by Syrian security forces in Damascus, a security source told Reuters.

The Israeli military told the news agency that it doesn't comment on reports in the foreign media.

Since October, Israel has been launching air strikes on targets in both Lebanon and Syria. Last month, an Israeli air strike hit the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing several top Iranian military officials.

The incident caused a military confrontation with Tehran, which launched a retaliatory strike on Israel using hundreds of drones and missiles.

Israeli forces arbitrarily detained the wife of Middle East Eye correspondent Mohammed al-Hajjar on Thursday, and refused to disclose why she was being held at a military checkpoint as his family made their way south of Gaza City.

Hajjar said an Israeli soldier stopped his family at a checkpoint at the Netzarim corridor earlier on Thursday, and ordered him to collect the identification cards of his immediate family members and other Palestinians who were also making their way south of the city.

Hajjar said he was interrogated about everyone near him, and when the soldier came to his wife Inas's ID card, he asked what their relationship was. After telling the soldier that it was his wife, the soldier said: "Go give her ID to her and tell her to come. You go south".

"I thought he wanted to ask her something, so I waited outside. The soldier came back and said: ‘Go south, leave from here’," Hajjar recalled.

To read the full story, click below.

Israeli forces arbitrarily detain Middle East Eye correspondent's wife

Several Iranian universities have announced that they would be willing to offer scholarships to students in the US and Europe who have been suspended or expelled from their schools for participating in pro-Palestinian protests on campus.

Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran said it would welcome students turned away from universities in the West.

“We have considered scholarships for these students and will fully pay for their education, dormitory and stay,” said SBU President Mahmoud Aghamiri.

“We will also especially support Palestinian students who are facing challenges.”

The Associated Press has reported that 2,000 people have been arrested since mid-April, when students at Columbia University in New York City began a Gaza solidarity encampment, sparking a wave of similar camps at schools across the US.

Dozens of students at University College London (UCL), the alma mater of the late Palestinian poet and academic, Refaat Alareer, set up a pro-Palestine encampment on Thursday to demand the university divest from Israel and end any potential complicity in Israel's war on Gaza.

Inspired by the mass encampments rocking universities across the US, students erected orange and green tents on grassy areas of the campus and unfurled a banner in the middle of the quad that read: "UCL Students against genocide."

Other students also slowly ferried in supplies of water and non-perishable foods as they formed a small perimeter to protect their encampment. 

Most of the students who are taking part in the encampment said they were wearing masks over their faces to protect their identities, should the institution target them.

To read the full story, click below.

UCL students attempt to replicate US protest encampments against Gaza war

Five people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz took to X shortly after a report that Turkey had blocked all trade to Israel, saying that Erdogan was behaving like “a dictator”.

Katz accused Erdogan of breaking bilateral agreements between the two countries, and said the country would work to create trade alternatives with other countries.