Live: Lawyers present genocide risk case against Israel at ICJ

Harvard University on Monday said it is suing the Trump administration in a letter that went out to students and staff. 

President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold more than $2bn in federal funding if Harvard did not hand over to the goverment its reports on antisemitism on campus, which the administration alleges has been out of control since the 7 october 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, and the ensuing Israeli war on Gaza. 

The White House's actions “have stark real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and the standing of American higher education in the world," Harvard president Alan Garber said. 

The Trump administration's newly arrived ambassador to Israel said on X on Monday that the World Health Organisation (WHO) contacted him so he could pressure the Israelis to allow aid into Gaza.

Mike Huckabee said pressure should be applied on Hamas instead. 

It has been 50 days since Israel imposed a full siege on the enclave. 

A @WHO official called upon me to put pressure on Israel to bring more humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. How about we put the pressure where it really belongs – on Hamas. pic.twitter.com/5AAv5Q63DD

— Ambassador Mike Huckabee (@USAmbIsrael) April 21, 2025

The official account for the State of Israel on X appeared to have posted, then deleted, a condolence post after the death of Pope Francis on Monday. 

Among the pontiff's last remarks on Sunday was a call to end the war on Gaza. 

They deleted it. Santo Subito! Saint Francis! pic.twitter.com/R1FvWElAqQ

— Philip Proudfoot (@PhilipProudfoot) April 21, 2025

US President Donald Trump's appointment of Merav Ceren to oversee Iran and Israel policy at the White House’s National Security Council could raise concerns about conflict of interest and security clearance.

Ceren previously worked at Israel’s Ministry of Defense, where she participated in negotiations in the occupied West Bank between Israel’s Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, known as Cogat, and Palestinian Authority officials, according to a profile provided by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

Ceren is listed as a 2016-2017 National Security Fellow at the think tank. Ceren was more recently the Deputy Policy Director for Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

Read more: Merav Ceren participated in negotiations for the Israeli ministry and has in the past criticised the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal

The Israeli public broadcaster on Monday announced that the army had withdrawn what it described as untrained soldiers from the Givati ​​and Golani Brigades in Gaza, after pressure from domestic media and Israeli residents.

Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir has landed in the US for a speaking tour and meetings with Jewish leaders and government officials, the Times of Israel reported on Monday. 

Ben Gvir had been deemed unwelcome in the country under the Biden administration after it sanctioned violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank, whom Ben Gvir supports. 

Under the Trump administration, the sanctions have been lifted.

Now, according to Haaretz, Ben Gvir's delegation will include an Israeli settler who had been previously detained by Israel's internal security service for his attacks on Palestinians. 

While it remains unclear exactly which government officials the minister will be meeting in the US, he is speaking at two events hosted by the Jewish society Shabtai, located at Yale University. 

Ben Gvir is also participating in a fundraiser in Brooklyn, New York  hosted by Bais Shmuel Chabad to“gain behind-the-scenes insight into the fight for Jewish sovereignty over all the Land of Israel and the push for victory through strength at the highest levels of government," the Times of Israel reported. 

Members of Gaza's tiny Christian community said they were "heartbroken" on Monday at the death of Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave and spoke to them on the phone every evening throughout the war.

Across the wider Middle East, Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, praised Francis' constant engagement with them as a source of solace at a time when their communities faced wars, disasters, hardship and persecution. 

"We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his," George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.

Francis called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Antone said, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine throughout the war. He would make sure to speak not only to the priest but to everyone else in the room, Antone said.

"We are heartbroken because of the death of Pope Francis, but we know that he is leaving behind a church that cares for us and that knows us by name - every single one of us," Antone said, referring to the Christians of Gaza who number in the hundreds. 

"He used to tell each one: I am with you, don't be afraid."

Francis phoned a final time on Saturday night, the pastor of the Holy Family parish, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, told the Vatican News Service.

- Reporting by Reuters

Israeli police initially banned the use of images of Palestinian children and babies from Gaza during an upcoming anti-war protest, but reversed the decision following media reporting. 

The police had issued a list of restrictions to Standing Together, the group organising the protest set for Thursday. 

According to the police letter obtained by Haaretz, the list included bans on images of children from Gaza, signs referring to captives, and the use of terms such as “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”.

Following the publication of the restrictions, the police appeared to backtrack. 

Read more: Israeli police ban Gaza children photos from anti-war protest, then backtrack

Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians in strikes on a family home in Khan Younis and tents in Gaza City on Monday, according to Wafa news agency. 

Wafa reported that Israeli forces targeted the Baraka family home in Khan Younis, killing four people. According to Al Jazeera correspondents, two of those killed were children. 

Another four Palestinians were killed during an air strike on tents housing displaced people in Gaza City, and another person was killed on Salah al-Din Street, according to Wafa. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the former  head of Israeli intelligence Ronen Bar to surveil anti-government protesters, according to an affidavit submitted by Bar on Monday, Haaretz reported. Netanyahu fired Bar in March, citing an "ongoing lack of trust."

Haaretz is also reporting that Israeli police has banned images of children or babies from Gaza,” and the word “genocide” at an upcoming demonstration in Tel Aviv. Images of Israeli captives held in Gaza are also banned.

Israel revoked the entry visas of 27 French lawmakers and officials just two days before their scheduled visit to the state and the occupied West Bank, the delegation has said.

Seventeen members of the group, including representatives from France’s Ecologist Party and the French Communist Party, condemned the move as “collective punishment” on Sunday and called on French President Emmanuel Macron to respond.

“The revocation of our permits to enter Israel 48 hours before our departure is a major breach of diplomatic ties with the French state and of our mandates as elected representatives of the republic,” the delegation said in a statement, according to Haaretz.  

“It requires an unequivocal stance from the highest authorities of our state.”

Read more: Israel revokes visas of 27 French lawmakers and officials

Israeli air strikes in Gaza have killed at least 39 Palestinians in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from 18 months of war to 51,240, according to the Gaza health ministry.

A ministry statement said that 62 others were admitted to hospitals, taking the number of injuries to 116,931.

Pope Francis has died at the age of 88, the Vatican has announced, after his final address on Easter Sunday called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The pontiff, who was the first head of the Catholic Church to hail from the Americas in centuries, became pope in 2013.

His death at his Vatican residence was confirmed on Monday morning.

The pope was hospitalised in February with double pneumonia.

He appeared on Easter Sunday from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica as an aide read out a benediction in which the pope condemned the "deplorable humanitarian situation" caused by Israel's onslaught on Gaza.

Read more: Pope Francis dies after final address called for ending war on Gaza

Yemen's Houthis said early on Monday that US air strikes on Sanaa killed at least 12 people and wounded 30, with a military spokesperson later claiming attacks on US aircraft carriers and Israel.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency cited the health ministry as saying the dead and injured had come from overnight strikes "by the American enemy" on a market and a residential zone in Sanaa's Farwa district.

Other raids were reported late Sunday in the central province of Marib, Hodeidah in the west and Saada in the north, Saba said.

The Houthis said they started missile attacks in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. US raids started in January 2024 but have been stepped up since President Donald Trump took office this year.

Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac mourned the death of Pope Francis on Monday morning, saying Palestinians, and Palestinian Christians in particular, had lost a "dear friend" who was "beloved in Palestine."

"He conveyed true compassion to Palestinians, most notably to those in Gaza during this genocide. His pastoral heart was evident in his insistence on calling the Christian community besieged in Gaza on a constant basis, even from his hospital," he said.

Recounting Pope's visit to Israel's separation wall in Bethlehem, Isaac said: "The Pope left, and the occupation and the wall remained."

"But we were left with a renewed sense of hope—knowing that we are not forgotten," he said.

Palestinian, and Palestinian Christians in particular, have lost a dear friend today. Pope Francis was beloved in Palestine. He conveyed true compassion to Palestinians, most notably to those in Gaza during this genocide. His pastoral heart was evident in his insistence on… pic.twitter.com/wDvgExuEhR

— Munther Isaac منذر اسحق (@MuntherIsaac) April 21, 2025