Urgent health update: Consequences of war on Gaza, West Bank/East Jerusalem, Lebanon, and Yemen - April 19, 2025

ACTION ITEMS FOR THE WEEK

1. Award the Nobel Peace Prize to Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Palestinian pediatrician and director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. He remained with his patients while the hospital was under attack until he was abducted by the Israeli military. He is currently being held without trial in Israel and, according to his lawyer, enduring torture. Sign this petition of nomination Dr. Safiya to the Nobel Prize committee: 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 328/329). Lunchtime meetup sessions Friday and Saturday can help you connect with other health workers. (Registration closed 4/4/25.)

MEDICAL JOURNALS

British Medical Journal discusses the healthcare community’s responsibility to highlight ongoing destruction in Gaza: here

International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services finds that unlike UK medical journals, NEJM published zero items on Gaza between 10/7/2023 and 12/31/2024: here

NPJ Antimicrobial Resistance letter discusses the connection between conflict and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and describes how the war on Gaza exacerbated the development and spread of drug-resistance: here

International Journal of Social Psychiatry editorial discusses ongoing violence in Gaza and Lebanon, underlining importance of recognizing mental health as a fundamental human right: here

ARTICLES

Hospitals in Ruins. A volunteer US doctor writes from Gaza during the ceasefire. here

GAZA

Israel’s siege of Gaza continues; no food or supplies have entered for 7 weeks (since 3/2/25). Malnutrition is the norm, starvation is imminent. Escalated air, land, and sea bombardment and expanded ground operations have increased the toll of genocide. Over 401,000 people have been displaced with no safe place to go. Israel has declared 69% of the Gaza Strip “off-limits” to Palestinians.

This week: 190 Palestinians killed, 655 injured

Since the breaking of the ceasefire: 1,630 Palestinians killed, 4,302 injured

Killed since 10/23/2023: 51,000+

Injured since 10/23/2023: 116,343+

Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza: 407 (0 this week)

Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza: 2,599 (12 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.

4/10, Israel released 10 detainees (4 over 60 years old). They were transferred to Al Aqsa Hospital (Deir al Balah).

For more Gaza data: Snapshot here:

Israeli attacks

• 4/7, 9 killed (5 children) when a residential building was hit in Deir al Balah.

• 4/8, 6 killed (2 children) and 12 injured in an IDP tent in Rafah.

• 4/9, 29 killed and 50 injured when a residential building was hit in Gaza City.

• 4/11, 10 killed (7 children) and others injured in Khan Younis.

• 4/13, 7 killed (1 child) in a vehicle hit near Deir al Balah.

• 4/16, air strike killed 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona and 9 members of her family. The day before, she learned that the documentary about her “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk” will be screened at the Cannes Film Festival. here

Destruction of the Al-Ahli Hospital

• UN Secretary-General condemned the 4/13 Israeli strike on Al-Ahli Hospital (Gaza City): “a severe blow to an already devastated healthcare system… [U]nder international humanitarian law, if the whole or part of the population of an occupied territory is inadequately supplied, the occupying Power shall agree to relief schemes on behalf of the said population, and shall facilitate them by all the means at its disposal… Security Council resolutions… strongly condemn the unlawful denial of humanitarian access and depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival... [T]he UN will not participate in any aid delivery arrangement that does not fully respect the humanitarian principles: humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.”

• 2 Israeli strikes destroyed Al-Ahli’s emergency building, reception, laboratory (providing tests otherwise unavailable), and pharmacy, and damaged other facilities. An evacuation order before the attack prevented immediate casualties, but a child died from care disruption during the evacuation. According to MoH General Director Dr. Munir Al Bursh, patients were sent to other facilities, including a field hospital in Gaza City.

• WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, stressed that attacks on health care must stop. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) reported that staff and patients were given little time to evacuate, and with no place to go to, were left on the streets near the hospital. Al-Ahli hospital had the only computerized tomography (CT) scanner in Gaza. here

• British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "Israel's attacks on medical facilities have comprehensively degraded access to healthcare in Gaza... These deplorable attacks must end. Diplomacy, not more bloodshed, is how we will achieve a lasting peace." The Diocese of Jerusalem condemned the attacks on Al-Ahli Hospital, run by the Anglican Church, stating that this is the 5th attack on the hospital since October 2023.

• Prior to the Al-Ahli attack, WHO attempts to reach this and the Indonesian Hospital were denied. Describing Al Ahli, surgeon Dr. Samer Atar told WHO that doctors are operating beyond capacity and patients, mostly children and women, keep coming, creating an increasingly difficult situation. "You walk along the hospital grounds, there's no dignity, it's just patients on the floor or outside on beds exposed to the public.” Surgeries were performed with inadequate sterility due to a lack of surgical gowns, drapes and gloves; in some cases, doctors relied on gloves only, even when dealing with open wounds, and bones at risk of infection and future amputation. “Simple fractures often have to get fixed inadequately due to the lack of resources and supplies and this will lead to permanent disability for patients that survive.”

Health & Hospitals

Since 10/7 2023, at least 417 aid workers, including 294 UN staff, have been killed in Gaza.

• 4/7, Juzoor for Health & Social Development reported a staff doctor and nurse were killed leaving a Gaza City medical point supported by the International Rescue Committee (IRC). IRC’s Country Director said: “Health workers are risking their lives every day to provide care to people living under bombardment and cut off from humanitarian aid.”

• 4/13, Red Crescent reported that the missing paramedic survivor of the Rafa Health Worker Massacre is detained by Israel and called for his release.

• 4/15, staff member of the Kuwaiti field hospital (Al Mawasi area) was killed and 9 staff and patients injured when Israeli military targeted the back entrance of the hospital. Hospital administration condemned the attack and medical staff continue to work.

• 4/13, Palestinian Civil Defense reported many trapped under the rubble of their houses have died due to Israeli-denied entry of rescue equipment. In Gaza and North Gaza governorates, PCD firefighters face challenges from the 4/3 Israeli cut-off of the Mekorot waterline.

• 4/9, WHO last supported a medical evacuation for 18 patients and 29 companions. No medical evacuations have happened since despite 10-12,500 patients in urgent need of evacuation.

• Several health facilities have resumed service: Al Durra Children's Hospital (Gaza City) now has 80 beds and 6 ICU beds; a PHC in Al Zaytoun, Gaza City; Ma’en Health Center in Khan Younis; and Sheikh Hamad Hospital for Rehabilitation and Prosthetics in North Gaza Governorate has partially resumed service, offering prosthetics and orthotics care and some in- and out-patient rehab services. MSF-Belgium opened a level-2 PHC providing general consults, sexual and reproductive health services, noncommunicable disease care, wound care, physiotherapy, and outpatient nutrition services in Gaza Governate.

• Several health facilities have been forced to suspend services or relocate. The ongoing ground military operation in Rafah has closed all PHCs and Red Crescent branches, including their field hospital. Their emergency medical services and ambulance dispatches are now coordinated from the UK-Med field hospital in Al Mawasi (Khan Younis). No facility in Rafah can perform C-sections or surgical care for obstetric complications, while only basic emergency OB and newborn care is available at the Rafah field hospital, near areas slated for evacuation.

• The blockade and restrictions on movement between southern and northern Gaza via the “Netzarim corridor” severely limit supply replenishment to health facilities. 87% of the medical items required for orthopedic surgeries and 99% of medicines used for cardiac catheterization are out of stock. Rota vaccine stocks are fully depleted. There is an urgent need for medical equipment to support maternal and newborn care, laboratory diagnostics, and medical oxygen production. WHO has requested 4,500 blood units (a 1-month supply) to be sent from the West Bank to Gaza, but Israeli approval remains pending. Repair parts for ambulances and generators and ambulance fuel (benzene) are in short supply. There are no functional repeaters for VHF radios to coordinate ambulance dispatch, forcing Red Crescent to communicate via mobile phones. Emergency medical teams continue to be rejected by Israel (40-50% rejection rate). As of 4/15, there are only 21 EMTs (2 national, 19 international) in the entire Gaza Strip.

• Nasser Hospital's emergency room has a special area where children are allowed to die quietly, with their families. The "dead children's area" is also for children whose rescue would require resources beyond the hospitals means. here

• Autopsy results indicate the majority of the 14 aid workers killed in the 3/23 Rafah Massacre died from gunshot wounds to the head or chest, several were missing limbs or other body parts, and most were in clearly identifiable uniforms. here, here

• Puberty under fire: The struggles of a Gaza girl living through war and Down Syndrome. here

Evacuation & Displacement

• 4/12, Israeli Minister of Defense announced Israeli military had encircled Rafah governorate and now controlled the “Morag” corridor (named for an Israeli settlement, 1 of 21 dismantled in 2005 as part of Israel’s “Disengagement Plan”), dividing Gaza east-west between Khan Younis and Rafah, creating an “Israeli security zone” on 20% of the Gaza Strip between the Egyptian border and Khan Younis. He added: large parts of Gaza make up “security zones” and hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated.

• Ravina Shamdasani of the UN Human Rights office (OHCHR) stated: “The increasing issuance by Israeli Forces of ‘evacuation orders’ – which are, in effect, displacement orders – have resulted in the forcible transfer of Palestinians in Gaza into ever shrinking spaces where they have little or no access to lifesaving services, including water, food and shelter, and where they continue to be subject to attacks… [T]he nature and scope of the evacuation [displacement] orders raise serious concerns that Israel intends permanently to remove the civilian population from these areas in order to create a ‘buffer zone’.”

• Over 400,000 people are newly displaced. 86 displacement sites have received new IDPs.

• Since 3/18, Israel hit IDP tents 23 times in Al Mawasi, where they had instructed civilians to relocate; a large percentage of fatalities were children and women. “In some 36 strikes…the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children…”

• 1.8 million people are estimated to require emergency shelter assistance and essential household items. Many Shelter cluster staff members are themselves displaced, and critical shelter are largely depleted with the blockade prohibiting restocking. As of 4/12, tents are out of stock and Israeli military operations prevent access to 10,000 tarpaulins in storage in Rafah.

Aid

• Between 4/8-14, of 49 operations coordinated with Israeli authorities, 23 were denied, 1 impeded, 21 facilitated, and 4 cancelled. In northern Gaza, 12 were facilitated, 6 denied, 1 impeded, and 1 cancelled. In southern Gaza, 9 were facilitated, 17 denied and 3 cancelled.

• Cargo is accumulating in warehouses in Egypt and Jordan, where warehouses are at full capacity. In Egypt, 1,416 truckloads of cargo are awaiting dispatch. There is currently no more stock at any Logistics Cluster warehouse in Gaza, and no new cargo is arriving.

Food & Nutrition

• As of mid-April, over one million meals are prepared daily at 175 community kitchens. However, Food Security partners emphasize that this one cooked meal a day--the primary food source for 80% of Gaza’s households--is far from sufficient to meet a person’s daily minimum caloric and dietary needs. The blockade and hostilities have caused food consumption to deteriorate sharply. Meat and eggs are nearly absent from diets; dairy products are very limited in the north and almost non-existent in the south.

• In March, 3,696 children (of 91,769 screened) were newly treated for acute malnutrition, a sharp increase compared with February. Escalation of hostilities has left less than 60% (of 173 outpatient treatment sites) operational, and multiple displacement orders have further undermined service continuity. As demand for supplies rises, replenishment remains impossible due to the blockade. In March, the number of children receiving blanket supplementary feeding decreased by over 70%, from 84,509 children to only 22,382.

Water & Sanitation

• March survey found high levels of household water insecurity: in North Gaza (94%), Rafah (92%), Gaza (91%), Khan Younis (90%) and Deir al Balah (88%). Water accessibility is greatly affected by the damaged distribution network’s water loss, estimated at 50-65%.

• Military activity, displacement orders, and access constraints compromise sanitation, water access and public health. Over 50% of WASH facilities are now in “no-go” zones, rendering 320 facilities inaccessible. These include the 2 main landfills, 50% of groundwater wells (170 of 336), desalination plants (25 of 46), sewage pump stations (34 of 67), lagoons or stormwater basins (16 of 29), and over 60% of temporary waste dump sites (43 of 72) and water reservoirs (35 of 52). Combined with specific Israeli denial of access for repairs, this has prevented use of damaged facilities and networks, including 2 of 3 Mekorot water supply lines, one non-functional since 1/2025 and the other since 4/3/2025. Scarcity of fuel limits the pumping and treatment of water, water trucking, and sewage pumping.

• Israeli enforcement of water insecurity not only undermines basic hygiene and drinking water, but disrupts every aspect of daily life, especially for women. Menstrual hygiene, dignity, and health are compromised, increasing risk of infection and social stigma. Families are forced into impossible choices: rationing drinking water, forgoing hygiene practices, and sacrificing safety in the struggle to survive.

Mine & Ordinance Removal

• Mine Action activities are largely suspended due to Israeli attacks. Since 1/2025, 21 incidents involving unexploded ordnance resulted in 6 deaths and 85 injuries (22 children).

• After nearly 40,000 Israeli air strikes since October 2023, there are 4,000+ unexploded munitions in Gaza. Israel has blocked international efforts to import demining equipment and engage in cleanup efforts here

Education

• Only about 30% of children who attended learning sessions during the ceasefire are still able to access in-person education. Education partners use shifts and rotation schedules allowing children a minimum of 2.5 hours daily schooling, 3 days a week. In-person learning is prioritized for grades 1-4, while remote learning through the MinEd e-school platform and UNRWA’s self-learning materials promotes learning for where in-person instruction is not feasible.

• Education damage assessment uses satellite imagery to find: 95.2% of educational facilities are damaged, 88.5% requiring major rehab or complete reconstruction.

• Post-ceasefire escalation of attacks and displacement orders closed 52 government schools and 60 TLS (50,000 children). Many governmental schools are again being used as IDP shelters.

• Graduation exams for the 2023-2024 cohort, initially rescheduled for mid-April, were again postponed due to the intense military activity. Notably, the tablets on which students take the exams remain stuck in the West Bank.

THE WEST BANK, INCLUDING EAST JERUSALEM

In the past week, Israeli forces killed 2 Palestinians (1 child) and injured 110 (21 children).

Killed since October 2023: 1,075 (227 children) and injured: 16,923 (2,631 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

• 4/8, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld the body of a Palestinian woman from Biddya (Salfit) near Ariel settlement, for throwing stones at Israeli forces and allegedly carrying a knife.

• 4/14, Israeli forces shot and killed a 17-year-old and injured 3 during an operation in Al Jalazun refugee camp (Ramallah). Palestinians threw stones at Israeli forces, who responded with live ammunition and tear gas. The ambulance was forced to detour around Israeli-imposed road closures. The boy was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Demolitions & Displacement

Between 4/8-14, Israeli authorities demolished 44 Palestinian-owned structures for lack of Israeli-issued building permits, displacing 65 (37 children) and affecting 90+people.

• During a demolition in Nablus, Israeli settlers stole 2 dogs, a cat, and several birds from a demolished animal shelter belonging to a 7-year-old displaced with her family. On the same day, 15 structures were demolished in Area C of Beit Liqya village, in Ramallah governorate, including two wedding halls, an unfinished residence, a storage space, an agricultural structure, a water cistern and eight other structures that were built on a seven-dunum (1.7 acres) piece of land, affecting the livelihoods of nine households comprising 37 people.

• Between 1/1-4/14, 456 structures were demolished by Israeli authorities in Area C, a 500% increase in displacement and a 200% increase in demolitions compared to the previous year.

• Israeli forces carried out 2 punitive demolitions, displacing 7 (4 children). 11 punitive demolitions in 2025 make this the most destructive period since records have been kept (2009).

Settler violence, settlement expansion, movement restrictions

In the past week, settlers carried out 16 attacks against Palestinians, more than half in Bedouin communities, injuring 11 (1 child), and damaging 6 vehicles, 100 beehives, and a wedding hall.

• 4/9, the Barriyet al Maniya herding community (Bethlehem) was emptied of its Palestinian residents when the last 4 families (32 people, 20 children) were forcibly displaced after a series of settler attacks, vandalism, grazing restrictions, and intimidation. These settlers from a nearby outpost have attacked the community 29 times, causing casualties and property damage.

• Between 10/2023-10/2024, 43 new settlement outposts were established in the West Bank, compared to 7 yearly in the nearly 3 decades prior, according to Peace Now. All settlements are illegal under international humanitarian law. The Israeli government financed settler outposts with NIS28 million (US$7.5 million) in 2023 and NIS75 million (US$20 million) in 2024. Israeli authorities have retroactively “legalized” 8 settlement outposts (5 to be established as new settlements) and allocated NIS7 billion (US$1.9 billion) for road infrastructure serving them.

• In 2/2025, the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) announced its intention to allocate 16,121 West Bank dunums (over 3,900 acres) for “grazing purposes.” Peace Now notes this is the first time allocations have been publicly announced. The 6 notices cover areas in the Jordan Valley, Salfit and east of Ramallah, including lands previously designated by Israel as firing zones or nature reserves and home to Palestinian Bedouin and herding families.

• Israeli authorities have recently intensified movement restrictions and road infrastructure works along Road 60, the West Bank’s main north-south artery used by both Palestinians and Israeli settlers (except inside East Jerusalem).

• 4/9-10, Israeli forces installed 3 new road gates at the entrances to Turmus’ayya (Ramallah) and the villages of As Sawiya and Qabalan (Nablus). Two of these gates along Road 60 between Ramallah and Nablus effectively sever direct access for 15,000+ residents to the main road. 15 other road gates on Road 60 hinder access for tens of thousands of Palestinians to reach basic services and workplaces. Since the beginning of 2025, 44 road gates have been newly installed in the West Bank, raising the number of West Bank road gates to more than 300.

• 4/10, Israeli authorities issued 2 military orders requisitioning over 200 dunums (400 acres) of Palestinian-owned land for expanding Road 60 in Ramallah, affecting land belonging to Al Bireh and the towns of Silwad, Ein Yabrud, Beitin, Deir Dibwan and Burqa.

• Overview of how Israeli movement restrictions, resource access denial, settler violence and settlement expansion have ramped up over the past 18 months, displacing Palestinian families who have lived there for generations. These tactics of making life impossible for Palestinians, are helping Israel redraw the geographic and demographic makeup of the Jordan Valley. here

Education

• According to the Palestinian Ministry of Education (MoE), between 1/1-3/31, 3,992 incidents involving Israeli forces affected governmental schools and 28 incidents involved Israeli settlers, a 75% increase over the previous year. These include cases where Israeli forces or settlers broke into schools, fired weapons at or in the vicinity of schools, detained students or staff, and delayed or harassed students and teachers on the way to school. In the Masafer Yatta area of Hebron on 3/29, Israeli settlers wearing military-like uniforms accompanied by Israeli forces raided the Jinba school, smashing windows, desks, and electronic devices. Most incidents (77%) were in the northern West Bank, where 10 UNRWA schools (4,400 students) remain closed.

• 4/17, Education Cluster issued a statement highlighting the growing challenges facing students in accessing safe education in the West Bank and calling on the international community to take urgent action. The recent closure orders for 6 UNRWA-run schools in East Jerusalem “set a dangerous precedent that places the educational future of tens of thousands of Palestinian refugee children across the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) at risk.” West Bank UNRWA schools enroll 47,000 refugee children in 96 schools and serve as “a protective space and a vital service amid protracted crises,” providing a lifeline and a sense of “stability, protection, and hope in the face of ongoing insecurity and hardship,” disruption of which would “undermine their wellbeing, development, and long-term prospects.”

Developments in the northern West Bank

• Israel’s expanding “Iron Wall” offensive aims to separate the northern West Bank from the south. The escalation furthers plans to expedite annexation and solidify key settlement projects, including connecting the large Maale Adumim settlement to Jerusalem. here

• The displacement of Palestinians by Israeli forces continues to affect neighborhoods surrounding camps in Jenin (380 non-refugee families) and Tulkarm (50 non-refugee families).

• 4/13, the Tulkarm Municipality reported Israeli military bulldozers levelled surrounding roads, damaging 300m. of sewage networks, affecting 20 families.

• 4/10, Israeli forces detained several Jenin municipal workers near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp and the Governmental Hospital for 3 hours, despite having coordinated in advance. Israeli forces stopped the crew, detained some workers, and assaulted the head of the Palestinian District Civil Liaison Office. They also detained three Palestinians, including a patient, exiting the hospital.

• 4/15, Israeli undercover units shot and arrested a man in Nablus after surrounding his house. Shot as he attempted to flee out the back door, Israeli forces stormed the residence, causing significant damage, physically assaulting his father, and arresting his brother. Another 70-year-old resident was beaten by Israeli forces and evacuated for medical treatment.

• 4/16, Israeli forces shot, killed and withheld 2 bodies after an exchange of fire, including a shoulder-fired explosive, at a cave near Qabatiya, south of Jenin.

ISRAEL

• Open letter signed by 1,000 Israeli fighter pilots (90% retirees) demands “immediate return of all our hostages without delay, even at the cost of stopping the war immediately.” The Israeli army, backed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, said the 10% still on active duty would be fired. Similar statements have been issued by reservists from Intelligence Unit 8200, hundreds of Israeli writers, poets and literary figures, some 1,500 former and current Israeli armored corps (including former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former Chief of Staff Dan Halutz), more than 1,600 veterans of the paratroopers and infantry, about 200 Israeli military doctors, 150 Golani Brigade members, and officers and reservists from the army’s special operations and cyber directorates. JVP-HAC notes: Together they give meaning to the phrase “too little, too late.” here

• The Israeli army is facing its biggest refusal crisis in decades, with 100,000+ Israelis not showing up for reserve duty. The scale demonstrates the war’s waning legitimacy. here

• Israeli military’s medical corps has threatened to dismiss army medics for signing an anti-war petition if they don’t withdraw their names. here

• Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz affirmed Israel will continue blocking all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, a correction to his earlier remarks that, in the future, Israel would seek to establish a “civilian-based distribution infrastructure” for Gaza aid. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated: “as long as our hostages are languishing in tunnels, there is no reason for a single gram of food or any aid to enter Gaza.” here

• “They told my brother I was dead”: Israel’s psychological warfare against Palestinian prisoners. here

LEBANON

• UN reports Israeli forces in Lebanon killed 71 civilians (14 women and 9 children) after the agreed-upon ceasefire with Hezbollah in November. here

YEMEN

• US airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels killed 33 people and wounded 80 others. If confirmed, this would mark one of the deadliest days of Trump’s campaign.

UNITED STATES

• A sweeping crackdown on Instagram and Facebook posts critical of Israel—or even vaguely supportive of Palestinians [including health-related posts, of course]—was directly orchestrated by the Israeli government, according to internal Meta data obtained by Drop Site News. Meta has complied with 94% of Israeli takedown requests since 10/7/23.

US Universities

• Columbia: Mohsen Mahdawi, student and green-card holder for 10 years, detained by ICE in Vermont after appearing for a citizenship test. here, here

• Columbia: president vows to reject any Trump deal that erodes its independence. here

• Harvard: Finally rejected Trump demands to dictate university oversight. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.” But they still accept the IHRA definition of antisemitism. here here here

Harvard-affiliated researchers have begun receiving stop-work orders on contracts worth tens of millions of dollars less than one day after Trump announced a $2.2 billion pause of federally-funded research, much of it medical. here

Trump Threatens To Revoke Harvard’s Tax-Exempt Status One Day After Garber Rejects Demands. here

• Harvard Divinity School: “A Campaign of Anti-Palestinian Racism” Students & Alumni Decry Program Suspension here

• Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism is under attack by the Anti-Defamation League, Canary Mission, and other smearing and doxxing platforms. The malicious “explainers” on ICSZ that the ADL and Canary Mission have posted are a mixture of baseless insinuations about ICSZ scholars, and efforts to make vices out of virtues like ICSZ's principled recognition that research is not "neutral." (from a solidarity statement)

• Notre Dame: Administration canceled keynote by Prof. Eman Abdelhadi to be delivered at annual undergraduate-organized Student Peace Conference at Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Administration explained all events or lectures related to Israel/Palestine must have Notre Dame police security and planning, which they refused to provide. here

• UMass-Amherst: Faculty Senate passed a Mutual Academic Defense Compact resolution calling on the 250 public and land grand institutions to legally and financially support each other if attacked by Trump. Dozens of other universities are considering similar resolutions. (FB post)

EUROPE

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has announced an extension to the deadline for Israel to file its defense in the ongoing genocide case brought before the court concerning its ongoing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, setting the new date for January 12, 2026.

SOURCES

OCHAOPT, Al-Jazeera, Democracy Now, DropSiteNews, The Guardian, Haaretz, Harvard Crimson, Mondoweiss, The New Yorker, Palestine Chronicle, Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Portside