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Displaced Palestinians, who fled their homes due to Israeli strikes, took shelter in a UNRWA-affiliated school, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. (Image: AP Photo)
US secretary of state Blinken will also discuss with Saudi pathways to an independent Palestinian state as protests intensify in US universities.
The effects of the war in Gaza are spiralling out of the region and affecting one of Israel’s closest allies, the US, as protests demanding Israeli divestment from US universities and ceasefire continue to rattle the US.
Police detained nearly 200 people at three US universities on Saturday as they cleared pro-Palestinian encampments. At least 100 were detained in Boston after cops dressed in riot gear cleared a protest camp at Northeastern University.
Northeastern University said in a statement on social media platform X that some protesters resorted to “virulent anti-Semitic slurs, including ‘Kill the Jews’.
Arizona State University officials said that the university police 69 people for trespassing after the group set up an “unauthorized encampment” on campus. They further added that the protest group — “most of whom were not ASU students, faculty or staff” — had set up a camp Friday and then ignored repeated orders to disperse.
Police at Indiana University arrested 23 people as they cleared a campus protest camp, the Indiana Daily Student newspaper said in a report accessed by AFP.
The war in Gaza will also be in the minds of the first panel discussions of the two-day World Economic Forum (WEF) special meeting being held in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday called for regional “stability” and warned that the war will have an economic fallout.
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said wars in Ukraine and Gaza have
“I think cool-headed countries and leaders and people need to prevail, and you need to make sure that you actually de-escalate. The region needs stability,” Jadaan said.
The war in Gaza, which has sent regional tensions soaring, began with an unprecedented attack on southern Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.
The attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel estimates that 129 hostages seized by militants on October 7 are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,388 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries who are trying to broker peace between Israel and Hamas are attending the summit in Riyadh.
The US State Department said that Blinken will discuss “a pathway to an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel”, during talks in Riyadh on Monday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Hamas said Saturday it was studying Israel’s latest counterproposal for a Gaza ceasefire and also released video footage of two men held hostage in Gaza. The individuals were identified as Keith Siegel and Omri Miran by the Israeli campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
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