Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ

Muslim student groups and Palestine solidarity organisations in Australia are calling for the withdrawal of a new, university-specific definition of antisemitism over concerns that it will conflate criticism of Israel with hatred of Jewish people.

The coalition of 26 Muslim Students Associations (MSAs) and 35 pro-Palestinian groups said the new definition of antisemitism “systematically criminalises Palestinian, Muslim and Arab students".

On 27 February, Universities Australia (UA), a body representing 39 of Australia’s 43 universities, released a “Statement on Racism”, putting forth a “uniform definition of antisemitism” to be adopted unanimously by the affiliated institutions.

According to UA’s statement, the new definition draws on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, as well as recommendations from Antisemitism Taskforces at Columbia University, Stanford University, Harvard University, and New York University.

In a joint letter, they called for Australian universities to “rescind their adoption” of the definition. 

Read more: Pro-Palestine students in Australia call for repeal of IHRA definition of antisemitism

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attended a private dinner in his honour at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, alongside Republican lawmakers and prominent business figures.

During the visit, Ben Gvir met House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who, according to a statement, voiced support for the minister’s policies.

“They expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed,” Ben-Gvir posted on X, claiming such strikes would build pressure to secure the release of Israeli captives.

A son dug out his elderly mother’s tiny, black shoes from a pile of rubble, which used to be her home. He held the shoes gently, then tenderly kissed their tips.

His mother’s name was Najwa Ghacham, a fiercely independent woman. For a year and three months, Najwa refused to leave her home in the southern Lebanese village of Yaroun, despite heavy Israeli bombardment and fighting around her. 

“She loved her home so much,” her son, Nour Ghacham, 48, told Middle East Eye. “It was clear she cherished it.” 

He pulled out his phone to show a photo of what her home once was. It was two storeys, made from white stones, with terracotta shingles and sky blue shutters. A purple-flowering bush spilt over her front yard gate, and a pine tree sprouted through the pavement, its branches stretching above her roof. 

The mayor and his wife, Laila Tahfa, 53, live next door. Tahfa said she remembered watching Najwa spend hours sweeping her doorstep and adjacent pavement, or caring for her garden. 

Read more: Najwa refused to leave her village so Israeli troops shot her in her home

The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany have urged Israel to comply with international law and permit unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday, the ministers stressed: “Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool and Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change.”

They called for all sides to agree to a ceasefire and demanded the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas. The statement comes amid growing international criticism of Israel’s blockade and worsening conditions inside Gaza.

At least 24 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera Arabic.

The majority of the casualties - 20 people - were reported in Gaza City and northern areas of the enclave. The ongoing bombardment comes amid intensified Israeli attacks across the besieged territory.

Kidney dialysis patients in Gaza are dying in growing numbers as hospitals struggle with a dire shortage of equipment and essential medicine, according to local health authorities.

A health official in Gaza, said more than 400 patients - around 40 percent of those needing dialysis - have died since the war began due to lack of treatment, reported Al Jazeera Arabic.

The crisis has been compounded by an ongoing blockade that restricts medical supplies. “There’s a severe shortage of dialysis equipment, and kidney medication is nearly impossible to find,” the health official said.

Israel will continue its complete blockade of Gaza, with the army expecting a “significant crisis” to unfold in the Palestinian enclave in two weeks.

According to a report on Israeli news site Walla, the Israeli military is not concerned about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has been without any humanitarian aid for the last 51 days after Israel declared its total blockade.  

Sources in Israel’s Southern Command, who spoke to Walla, estimated that “in two weeks, a significant crisis will begin in the Gaza Strip regarding food, medical equipment and medicines”.

According to these sources, Palestinians in Gaza “will adapt to the situation over the coming months, as long as they have flour, water and reasonable shelter”.

In a statement released on Monday, the UN body OCHA said that since Israel began its blockade, “not a single truck carrying food, fuel, medicine or any other essentials has been allowed in - no matter how critical they are for people’s survival”.

Read more: Israel expects 'significant crisis' in Gaza as it plans to continue total blockade

Rescue teams in Gaza say they’ve pulled at least 10 bodies and many wounded from the ruins of the Jaffa School in Gaza City, which had been sheltering displaced Palestinians.

An Israeli strike sparked a massive fire at the site overnight, killing and burning people alive as they slept.

At least one child was among the dead, with their body burned beyond recognition, according to images from the scene. 

A senior Hamas delegation is en route to Cairo for renewed negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli captives, according to Reuters and AFP.

The talks come amid a deadlock, with Hamas demanding a permanent halt to the fighting, while Israel continues to push for a temporary truce and the disarmament of the group - terms Hamas rejects.

Sources cited by Reuters say the new proposal includes a possible five-to-seven-year truce after all captives are freed. AFP reports the delegation, led by Khalil al-Hayya, will meet Egyptian officials to discuss “new ideas” to end the war.

Hundreds of students gathered at Yale’s Beinecke Plaza to protest a planned appearance by far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at Shabtai, a Jewish society located near campus.

Around 200 students set up eight tents and chanted, “We will not stop, we will not rest. Disclose, divest,” urging the university to take a stand against Israel’s war on Gaza. Ben Gvir, who has publicly called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, is on his first US visit since becoming minister.

The crowd dispersed late on Tuesday, but organisers pledged to return later on Wednesday.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Thank you for joining our live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, its escalating attacks across the occupied West Bank, and growing tensions throughout the wider region. 

• Israeli air strikes on Gaza City’s Tuffah district have killed at least 10 displaced Palestinians sheltering inside the Jaffa School, according to local officials.

• Gaza’s Civil Defence says many people remain buried under the rubble in the eastern part of the neighbourhood, but rescue efforts are stalled due to Israeli forces designating the area as a combat zone.

• The Israeli military reported intercepting a projectile launched from Yemen, triggering sirens across northern Israel. No casualties have been reported.

• Palestinian Islamic Jihad has demanded Syrian authorities release two of its members who have been held for five days “without any explanation”.

• Over 200 US university and college presidents have signed a joint letter condemning what they call “unprecedented” political interference in academic affairs by the Trump administration.

• Students at Yale University staged a protest during a campus visit by Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning. 

Here are the day's key developments:

- At least 32 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes across Gaza on Tuesday. 

- Health officials issued a new warning that at least 600,00o children are at risk of "permanent paralysis" in Gaza due to the blockade on all aid supplies, including vaccines, as the Israeli military launched one of the biggest waves of strikes in Gaza for weeks. 

- Qatar's Foreign Minister and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Tuesday that Israel has been an obstacle in talks to reach a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

- US President Donald Trump said he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the phone, and that the two leaders are "on the same side of every issue".

- Israel’s Ofer military court renewed – for the third time – the administrative detention order for 14 year-old Palestinian child, Ammar Sobhi Muhammad Abdul Karim, according to a Telegram statement by the Samidoun Prisoner Solidarity Network. Karim is “considered the youngest administrative detainee in the occupation’s prisons,” according to Samidoun.

- Syrian authorities have arrested two senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leaders in what appears to be a move to meet US demands for sanctions relief. 

- An Israeli strike on a car in Lebanon has killed the leader of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, Hussein Atwi, the group has confirmed.

Al-Araby TV's Gaza correspondent said in the very early hours of Wednesday that an Israeli air strike targeted a tent sheltering a forcibly displaced family north of Khan Younis. 

Children are believed to be among the victims, but it remains unclear just how many people are dead or wounded. 

Five members of Gaza's civil defence team were wounded in an Israeli air strike on a home they were inspecting for survivors in Jabalia in the north of the Strip, Aljazeera reported late Tuesday. 

عاجل | مراسل الجزيرة مباشر:

🔴 إصابة 5 أفراد من الدفاع المدني جراء قصف إسرائيلي استهدف مبنى بجوار مركز تابع لهم بشارع المنشية في #بيت_لاهيا شمالي #غزة

🔴 مصابون من أفراد الدفاع المدني خلال تفقدهم منزلا تعرض لقصف إسرائيلي في #جباليا البلد شمالي القطاع pic.twitter.com/AvB0bL0Znu

— الجزيرة مباشر (@ajmubasher) April 22, 2025

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US will no longer award what have long been coveted and highly productive research grants to entities that boycott Israel, it was announced on Monday.

The move is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to pressure universities in particular to take a zero-tolerance approach toward what is alleged to be antisemitic behaviour.

Those involved in protests and boycotts maintain is it protected political speech that is not antisemitic, but rather anti-Zionist as Israel continues its heavy bombardment of Gaza.