THE HAGUE, Netherlands 鈥� Israel strongly denied charges of genocide on Friday, telling the United Nations鈥� top court it was doing everything it could to protect the civilian population during its military operation in Gaza.

The International Court of Justice wrapped up a third round of hearings on emergency measures requested by South Africa, which says Israel鈥檚 military incursion in the southern city of Rafah threatens the 鈥渧ery survival of Palestinians in Gaza鈥� and has asked the court to

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Tamar Kaplan-Tourgeman, one of Israel鈥檚 legal team, defended the country鈥檚 conduct, saying it had allowed in fuel and medication to the beleaguered enclave.

鈥淚srael takes extraordinary measures in order to minimize the harm to civilians in Gaza,鈥� she told The Hague-based court.

A protester shouting 鈥淟iars鈥� briefly interrupted Kaplan-Tourgeman鈥檚 final remarks. The hearing was paused for less than a minute while security guards escorted a woman from the public gallery.

that the situation in the beleaguered enclave has reached 鈥渁 new and horrific stage鈥� and urged judges to order a half to Israeli military operations. The court was holding a third round of hearings on emergency measures requested by South Africa since it first filed its genocide case at the end of last year.

, South Africa says Israel鈥檚 military incursion in Rafah threatens the 鈥渧ery survival of Palestinians in Gaza.鈥� In January, judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive. Judges will now deliberate on the request and are expected to issue a decision in the next weeks.

ICJ judges have broad powers to order a cease-fire and other measures, though the court doesn鈥檛 have its own enforcement apparatus. A by the court demanding that Russia halt its has so far gone unheeded.

Most of Gaza鈥檚 population of 2.3 million people have been displaced since fighting began.

The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry says, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count.

in December 2023 and sees the legal campaign as rooted in issues . Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel鈥檚 policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to 鈥渉omelands.鈥� Apartheid ended in 1994.

A photo of 22-year-old Louk’s twisted body in the back of a pickup truck ricocheted around the world and brought to light the scale of the attack on communities in southern Israel. The military identified the other two bodies as those of a 28-year-old woman, Amit Buskila, and a 56-year-old man, Itzhak Gelerenter.

All three were killed by Hamas while fleeing the聽, an outdoor dance party near the Gaza border, where terrorists killed hundreds of people, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a news conference. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israeli Prime Minister聽聽called the deaths 鈥渉eartbreaking,鈥� saying, 鈥淲e will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.鈥�

The military said the bodies were found overnight, without elaborating, and did not give immediate details on where they were located. Israel has been operating in the Gaza Strip’s southern city of Rafah, where it says it has intelligence that hostages are being held.

Hamas-led terrorists killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted around 250 others in the Oct. 7 attack. Around half of those hostages have since been freed, most in swaps for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and bring all the hostages back, but he鈥檚 made little progress.聽聽pressure to resign, and聽聽to scale back its support over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israelis are divided into two main camps: those who want the government to put the war on hold and free the hostages, and others who think the hostages are an unfortunate price to pay for eradicating Hamas. On-and-off negotiations mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt have yielded little.

WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip rolled across a newly built U.S. pier and into the besieged enclave for the first time Friday as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and聽聽hindered the delivery of food and other supplies.

罢丑别听 that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day, all while Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah in its seven-month offensive against Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

But the U.S. and aid groups warn that the floating pier project is not a substitute for land deliveries that could聽聽in Gaza. Before the war, more than 500 truckloads entered the territory on an average day.

罢丑别听 because of the risk of attack, logistical hurdles and a growing shortage of fuel for the aid trucks due to the Israeli blockade of Gaza since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage in that assault on southern Israel. The Israeli offensive since has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, local health officials say, while hundreds more have been killed in the West Bank.

Aid agencies say they are running out of food in southern Gaza and fuel is dwindling, while the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.N. World Food Program say聽聽in Gaza鈥檚 north.

Troops finished installing the floating pier on Thursday, and the U.S. military’s Central Command said the first aid crossed into Gaza at 9 a.m. Friday. It said no American troops went ashore in the operation.

The Pentagon said no backups were expected in the聽. The U.S. plan is for the United Nations, through its World Food Program, to take charge of the aid once it leaves the pier. This will involve coordinating the arrival of empty trucks and their registration, overseeing the transfer of goods coming through the floating dock to the trucks and their dispatch to warehouses across Gaza, and, finally, handing over the supplies to aid groups for delivery.

The U.K. said some of its aid for Gaza was in the first shipment that went ashore, including the first of 8,400 kits to provide temporary shelter made of plastic sheeting. And it said more aid, including 2,000 additional shelter kits, 900 tents, five forklift trucks and 9,200 hygiene kits, will follow in the coming weeks.

鈥淭his is the culmination of a Herculean joint international effort,” said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. 鈥淲e know the maritime route is not the only answer. We need to see more land routes open, including via the Rafah crossing, to ensure much more aid gets safely to civilians in desperate need of help.鈥�

Aid distribution had not yet begun as of Friday afternoon, said a U.N. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The official said the process of unloading and reloading cargo was still ongoing.

The U.N. humanitarian aid coordinating agency said the start of the operation was welcome but聽.

鈥淚 think everyone in the operation has said it: Any and all aid into Gaza is welcome by any route,鈥� Jens Laerke, spokesman of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told journalists in Geneva on Friday. Getting aid to people in Gaza 鈥渃annot and should not depend on a floating dock far from where needs are most acute.鈥�

The U.N. earlier said fuel deliveries brought through land routes have all but stopped and that would make it extremely difficult to bring the aid to Gaza鈥檚 people.

鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter how the aid comes, whether it鈥檚 by sea or whether by land, without fuel, aid won鈥檛 get to the people,鈥� U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said Thursday.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the issue of fuel deliveries comes up in all U.S. conversations with the Israelis. She also said the plan is to begin slowly with the sea route and ramp up the truck deliveries over time as they聽.

Israel fears Hamas will use fuel in the war, but it asserts it places no limits on the entry of humanitarian aid and blames the U.N. for delays in distributing goods entering Gaza. Under pressure from the U.S., Israel has opened a pair of crossings to deliver aid into the territory鈥檚 hard-hit north in recent weeks.

Israel recently seized the Rafah border crossing in its push against Hamas around that city on the Egyptian border, raising fears about civilians’ safety while also cutting off the main entry for aid into the Gaza Strip.

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the pier project, expected to cost聽. The boatloads of aid will be deposited at a port facility built by the Israelis just southwest of Gaza City and then聽.

U.S. officials said the initial shipment totaled as much as 500 tons of aid. The U.S. has closely coordinated with Israel on how to protect the ships and personnel working on the beach.

But there are still questions about the safety of aid workers who distribute the food, said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, which is helping with logistics.

鈥淭here is a very insecure operating environment,鈥� and aid groups are still struggling to get clearance for their planned movements in Gaza, Korde said.

That concern was highlighted last month when an Israeli strike聽聽whose trip had been coordinated with Israeli officials. The group had also brought aid in by sea.

Pentagon officials have made it clear that security conditions will be monitored closely and could prompt a shutdown of the maritime route, even if just temporarily. Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, a deputy commander at the U.S. military鈥檚 Central Command, told reporters Thursday that 鈥渨e are confident in the ability of this security arrangement to protect those involved.鈥�

Already, the site has been targeted by mortar fire during its construction, and Hamas has threatened to target any foreign forces who 鈥渙ccupy鈥� the Gaza Strip.

Biden has made it clear that there will be no U.S. forces on the ground in Gaza, so third-country contractors will drive the trucks onto the shore.

Israeli forces are in charge of security on shore, but there are also two U.S. Navy warships nearby that can protect U.S. troops and others.

The aid for the sea route is collected and inspected in Cyprus, then loaded onto ships and taken about 200 miles (320 kilometers) to the large floating pier off the Gaza coast. There, the pallets are transferred onto the trucks that then drive onto the Army boats, which will shuttle the trucks from the pier to a floating causeway anchored to the beach. Once the trucks drop off the aid, they return to the boats.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Julia Frankel in Jerusalem, Jill Lawless in London and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

Before a banner fluttered from the second-floor balcony of UC Irvine’s Physical Sciences Lecture Hall:

鈥淎lex Odeh Hall,鈥� it said.

But who was Alex Odeh?

Nearly 40 years ago, a pipe bomb exploded as Odeh opened the door to his office on East 17th Street in Santa Ana, killing him and injuring seven others.

Odeh was the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee’s southern regional director. A Palestinian-born Christian and U.S. citizen, who lived in Orange County most of his adult life. He’s been hailed as a peace activist who strove for civil liberties for Arab-Americans and human rights around the world, a poet who published “Whispers in Exile,” a lecturer in Middle East history and Arabic language at Coastline College and Cal State Fullerton.

When he died, at age 41, he was also a husband and father of three girls. And despite many decades, tips, investigations, public identification of suspects, extradition requests and a $1 million reward offer from the FBI, his murder remains officially unsolved.

Odeh has very nearly been dead as long as he was alive. One might see his murder as foreshadowing the bloody conflict gripping the Middle East, and today, or as an early volley in the violent back-and-forth that shows no sign of abating.

A 6-foot statue of Odeh outside Santa Ana’s main library celebrates his legacy, but has been defaced over the years by vandals wielding blood-red paint.

The Middle Eastern conflict came to Orange County long before the current protesters were born.

Hijacked

It was a terribly fraught time. On Oct. 7, 1985, the Palestinian Liberation Front hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. Terrorists killed Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish American tourist who used a wheelchair, and demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners.

A few days later, Odeh appeared on the TV news show “Nightline” to present the Palestinian-American voice. He verbally sparred with a representative from the Jewish Defense League, condemned terrorism, suggested America should give PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat more credit for helping secure the release of other Achillo Lauro passengers, and said Arafat was a man of peace, according to several reports.

Santa Ana’s ADC office was not the first to be bombed. An explosion in Boston just two months before injured two people. Whoever was responsible for the Santa Ana attack must have been planning for some time, so it couldn’t have been vengeance over Odeh’s on-air comments that sparked it, some have speculated.

But on Oct. 11, 1985, the day after his appearance on “Nightline,” Odeh was dead. He had been scheduled to speak at a Fountain Valley synagogue later that day.

President Ronald Reagan sent condolences. The Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee condemned the murder. But Irv Rubin, chair of the Jewish Defense League, was quoted as saying, “I have no tears for Mr. Odeh,”聽 “He got exactly what he deserved,” and “My tears were used up crying for Leon Klinghoffer.”

Fruitless

A month later, the FBI publicly linked that bombing and two others to the Jewish Defense League. Rubin, its leader, blasted the FBI for maligning it without evidence, and said the FBI “could take their possible link and shove it.” A few months later the FBI classified the bombing as terrorism but eased away from its original statements, saying the Jewish Defense League was “probably” responsible for the Odeh attack and four others, but that further investigation was needed. Rubin again denied his organization’s involvement.

The FBI identified three suspects, believed to be affiliated with the Jewish Defense League, who fled to Israel soon after the bombing. A woman was arrested in 1988 for a different bombing but was suspected of ties to the Odeh bombing as well. Her husband, living in Israel, was also charged in that bombing, and suspected in the Odeh bombing as well. The jury deadlocked on the woman’s guilt, and she left American to join her husband in Israel.

Later, the U.S. asked for the couple to be extradited. They fought. The husband was ultimately convicted of a bombing 鈥� not Odeh’s 鈥� but his wife died in an Israeli prison in 1994, awaiting extradition to the U.S.

In April 1994, the Alex Odeh Memorial Statue went up. “To him, Jews, Christians, Muslims, all were the children of Abraham,” the statue’s inscription says.

In 1996, the FBI announced for information leading to the arrest of Odeh’s killers.

Rubin and another Jewish Defense League member were charged with conspiracy to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, as well as the office of U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, in 2001. Rubin allegedly at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles in 2002, in what officials called a suicide. His alleged accomplice, who allegedly knew the names of the Odeh bombers, was killed in a federal prison in Arizona in 2005.

The Odeh case has been described as For years, Orange County’s congressional reps have been asking the FBI and the Attorney General for updates, and introducing resolutions to commemorate Odeh’s life.

“Whereas those responsible for the act of domestic terrorism which killed Alex Odeh have yet to be brought to justice,” says the one introduced by Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, last fall, “the House of Representatives acknowledges with profound sorrow the death of Alexander Michael Odeh, a victim of domestic terrorism; the House of Representatives tenders its deep sympathy to the members of the family of the late Mr. Odeh and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in their bereavement; the Clerk of the House of Representatives will communicate this resolution to the Senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased; and when the House of Representatives adjourns today, it adjourns as a further mark of respect to the memory of Mr. Odeh.”

While the FBI and Department of Justice have understandably declined to update Correa’s office on the status of an ongoing investigation, “Mr. Correa will continue to memorialize the life of Alex Odeh in the United States Congress with this resolution 鈥� not just as an act of remembrance, but to continue to keep interest in the investigation alive,” said Adriano Pucci, Correa’s spokesman.

Someday, perhaps, we’ll know who killed Alex Odeh.

The student group will be given time during a September meeting of the university board’s investment committee to present its requests on divesting from interests that support Israel and for transparency in investments.

It will also receive help from university officials on creating an effective presentation. And a university spokesperson said the board committee will vote on the student’s proposal.

The university will not pursue disciplinary action against students for their involvement in as long as it is cleared by noon on Friday.

The first campus graduation ceremony is planned at 10 a.m. on Friday, there is another at 12:30 p.m. and the big all-class ceremony 鈥� featuring guest 鈥� is at 7 p.m.

There are a dozen ceremonies planned between Friday and Sunday.

The university provost has also agreed “to place urgency” behind the creation in the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Department of an advocate position for the support and education of students of Middle Eastern and North African descent.

“I’m overjoyed,” Duran Aziz, a first-year master’s student in the film studies program and vice president of the SJP group at Chapman said of the agreement.

“We thought that this offer was close to the best that we could take by the end of this semester because it gives us that meeting with the board,” he said. “It gives us the support from MENA and the DEI office, and, of course, it gives us the amnesty, as well. But I want to emphasize that to my knowledge, no students are facing disciplinary conduct charges due to involvement with the camp.”

Aziz acknowledged there is a possibility the university does not change any of its positions this fall after students make their pitch for divestment and disclosure.

“That’s actually our main concern right now,” he said. “While the president has approved us presenting to the investment committee of the board, there’s no guarantee that they will actually vote to disclose or divest.”

This summer, while most students involved with the encampment will be away from campus, Aziz said the plan is to “do a lot of research” on Chapman University’s investments to make the strongest pitch possible to the board. He admitted preparation for this will be a challenge since, as a private university, Chapman can withhold more financial information than public universities.

However, Aziz said the agreement SJP reached with the school includes a commitment from the university president, provost and dean of students to work with the group in early August so that it can fine tune the best possible presentation to the board. But, the burden is on SJP to prepare a list of suggested investments that the group will recommend to the board.

Since the camp was erected on May 2, Aziz said about 15 or 20 students have been spending most nights there and 500 unique visitors have checked into the encampment at least once.

On Thursday afternoon, the encampment was quiet with Aziz and only a handful of other people around. Aziz said his group plans to decamp on Friday morning.

The encampment is coming down, but “the hardest work for us lies ahead,” Aziz said.

The agreement was reached just as the other . Negotiations between students and administration there had broken down last week when the university issued suspension notices to several participants in the encampment.

Staff Writer Destiny Torres contributed to this report.

The unionized members who work at UC campuses, including UCLA, UC Irvine and UC San Diego, voted to authorize leadership to call a strike on Wednesday. Teaching and research assistants who are also graduate students at the universities are members of the union.

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Graduate students who work in similar capacities at USC filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees labor matters involving private-sector employers in response to treatment of protesters on campus.

United Auto Workers Local 4811 represents thousands of UC graduate student workers and reported that 79% of the union members approved the strike authorization.

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UAW Local 4811 is asking the UC schools to give amnesty to all academic employees and students who face arrest or disciplinary actions for protesting. The union wants the students to have guarantees of freedom of speech and political expression on campus and is asking for researchers to be able to opt out of funding sources tied to the Israeli Defense Force.

In a statement released before the vote, officials at the University of California Office of the President said the union’s demands fall outside the scope of negotiation for employment.

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“UC believes that the vote currently being conducted by UAW leadership sets a dangerous precedent that would introduce non-labor issues into labor agreements,” the statement said. “If a strike is allowed for political and social disputes, the associated work stoppages would significantly impact UC’s ability to deliver on its promises to its students, community and the State of California.”

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UC graduate student workers have authorized four previous work stoppages, the most recent in November 2022. It was the largest strike in the history of higher education with a reported 48,000 members participating. They walked off the job for six weeks. It ended with the union negotiating a new contract with a more than 50% raise to workers’ base pay.

This goal of the strike authorized Wednesday is not to raise wages but to protect workers’ rights. In addition to seeking amnesty and protection, the union is asking universities to disclose all known investments in weapons manufacturers, military contractors and companies profiting from the Israel-Hamas wars.

SACRAMENTO 鈥� Investments in weapons manufacturers and a wide array of other companies by the University of California targeted by students protesting the Israel-Hamas war represent $32 billion 鈥� or nearly one-fifth 鈥� of the system鈥檚 overall assets, the system鈥檚 chief investment officer says.

UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher unveiled the estimate Tuesday at the first public Board of Regents meeting since nationwide pro-Palestinian student protests began in April. The calculation was in response to a letter he received last month from the UC Divest Coalition, which is scrutinizing the system鈥檚 overall $175 billion in assets.

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The group asked for the system to halt its investments in weapons manufacturers, the investment firms Blackstone and BlackRock, and two dozen companies across the entertainment, technology and beverage industries.

Bachher said that would apply to investments that include: $3.3 billion in holdings from groups with ties to weapons manufacturers; $12 billion in U.S. treasuries; $163 million in the investment firm BlackRock and $2.1 billion in bonds that BlackRock manages; $8.6 billion from Blackstone and $3.2 billion from the other 24 companies.

鈥淲e pride ourselves on a culture of transparency,鈥� Bachher said, adding that it is important to listen to and engage with students.

The University of California system said last month it would not boycott or divest from Israel, and the regents have not indicated a change in position during this week鈥檚 meetings.

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In 1986, the regents voted to divest $3.1 billion from companies doing business with South Africa鈥檚 apartheid government after more than a year of student protests. The system also dropped its investments in fossil fuels in 2020.

For weeks, students at campuses across the country have been protesting and setting up encampments at their universities to call on them to be more transparent about their investments and to divest from companies that financially support Israel. The demonstrations have led to and . Tensions between protesters, law enforcement and administration 聽have garnered some of the most attention.

The protests stem from the current Israel-Hamas conflict which started on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of Gaza鈥檚 inhabitants.

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In a letter provided to The Associated Press by the UC president鈥檚 office, the UC Divest Coalition 鈥� which is made up of anti-war student advocates across UC campuses 鈥� asked the university system to end any investments in 鈥渃ompanies that perpetuate war or weapons manufacturing, including companies that give economic support to the state of Israel, and therefore perpetuate the ongoing occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people.鈥�

鈥淚nvestment in arms production is antithetical to the UC鈥檚 expressed values and the moral concerns of the students, workers, and faculty that the Regents represent,鈥� the letter says.

The United Nation鈥檚 top court in January ruled that Israel must do all it can to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but did not order an end to Israel鈥檚 military activities in the territories. The ruling was in response to a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in violation of international law. Israel has denied that it is committing genocide.

The coalition did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent via email and social media on the letter and the $32 billion estimate.

At a meeting that lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours Tuesday, some students and faculty called for the system to divest from groups with ties to Israel, some faculty raised concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, and regents asked investment committee members what it would mean to divest.

Holly Yu, a student studying ethnic studies at the University of California, Merced, urged officials to recognize that students are 鈥渆xpected to continue our everyday lives鈥� as the death toll rises in Gaza.

鈥淧lease listen to the voices of your students and stand in solidarity with us by divesting immediately,鈥� Yu said.

Regents said that the question of what it would mean to divest does not have a straight-forward answer.

鈥淲e need to be able to articulate to our students that are demanding divestment as to why it鈥檚 not so simple,鈥� Regent Jose M. Hernandez said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just a matter of selling a coupon and saying 鈥榦kay, we don鈥檛 want this, so we鈥檙e going to invest in another company.鈥欌��

Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse 色情论坛 Initiative. is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

A university spokesman said the crowd was estimated at 500 people at one point. There was no official word on how many people were detained, or if they were being arrested, but about 30 people were seen being removed by police with their hands in some sort of restraint such as zip ties.

At least two people who were taken into custody told reporters that they were UCI faculty members.

Campus police called for help from other police agencies in the region after a crowd that started around 200 people gathered at the pro-Palestinian encampment in the afternoon in response to a call for an emergency coalition protest; for a couple of hours the protesters expanded the footprint of the encampment that was in a quad in front of the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall and some barricaded themselves using coolers, umbrellas and other items in the nearby lecture hall.

Advancing police officers in riot gear, over the course of a couple of hours, pushed the protesters from the quad area and the buildings and as night fell into Aldrich Park.

UCI spokesperson Mike Uhlenkamp said he did not know if police would stay on campus overnight.

The police action drew mixed reactions and some questioned the university’s mid-afternoon declaration in a campus-wide alert that the protest had turned violent.

Gregory Hammoud, an Irvine resident and UCI alumnus, said that it was one of the most “insane things he has ever seen any Orange County police department do.”

“They are in riot gear and slowly narrowing in on everyone,” Hammoud said. “We are the ones trying to make this peaceful, they are the ones trying to ensue violence. Seeing my community go through something like this is heartbreaking.

“We seriously just want peace and we want our UCI administrators to express they want peace as well,” Hammoud added.

Tension increased when officers from neighboring agencies arrived to help UCI police, but rather than an all-out clash it turned into a methodical sweep that eventually cleared the encampment.

Some shoving between police and protesters was spotted as officers moved further into the encampment area and eventually started to remove some protesters.

Throughout the afternoon, the encampment was expanded to take over the quad area in front of the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall and protesters were seen chanting from the second-floor balcony of the hall. Pop-up tents, umbrellas, coolers and equipment were spread out to fill the quad, even used to block stairways to buildings and reinforce the barricade.

Police tore down a painted banner protesters had unfurled from the second-floor balcony reading 鈥淎lex Odeh Hall鈥� in honor of the Palestinian activist who died in a 1985 office bombing in Santa Ana.

Protesters were led in chants of “We won’t move” and “shame” and some wore scarves or face masks and had goggles and hard hats. Another chant the protesters kept returning to: “There is no riot here. Why are you in riot gear?”

One man who was escorted out by police identified himself as a UCI faculty member. He said he was out at the encampment to “support my students who have a right to peacefully protest.”

“My students are not interested in violence, they are only interested in drawing attention to genocide,” said the faculty member, who did not otherwise identify himself. “These police officers decided to grab me even though I wasn’t doing anything different from anyone else. To the people of Gaza, we are with you.”

Another man being escorted away said the protest was peace and called for a free Palestine.

“What a sad day for our university. I鈥檓 brokenhearted,” Chancellor Howard Gillman said in a late night message to the campus community.

“For the last two weeks, I have consistently communicated that the encampment violated our policies, but that the actions did not rise to the level requiring police intervention,” he said. “And so after weeks when the encampers assured our community that they were committed to maintaining a peaceful and nondisruptive encampment, it was terrible to see that they would dramatically alter the situation in a way that was a direct assault on the rights of other students and the university mission.”

I am at the UCI Pro-Palestinian encampment where hundreds of supporters are gathered after encampment leaders called for an emergency coalition protest this morning.

Check back for updates.

— Annika Bahnsen (@annika_bahnsen)

The Gaza Solidarity Encampment in front of the hall with students sleeping in tents and hosting teach-ins, speakers and other outreach activities. Last week, UCI sent suspension notices to several students, including those who had been part of the negotiating team representing the encampment in talks with university administration .

The pro-Palestinian protesters at UCI have repeatedly said since the encampment formed that they would not leave until the university divests from companies and institutions with ties to Israel and weapons manufacturers, “reinvests money into students and workers” and calls for and end of Israeli occupation of the Gaza strip, among other demands.

Amnesty for involved students has also been part of the demands.

“Their suspensions, bad-faith negotiations, their lying emails, their threat of police 鈥� all of these are fear tactics meant to silence us, but we are strong in our resolve and we will not rest,” Sarah Khalil, chair of Students for Justice in Palestine at UCI, and a UCI student, said in a prepared statement released ahead of the protest.

When approached Wednesday during the protest’s earlier hours, Khalil would not comment further and other participating students said leaders of the movement said not to talk with the media.

Organizers with the SJP group also said their call to action Wednesday was meant to “commemorate 76 years of Palestinian resistance in the face of violent, illegal occupation.”

“Over 40,000 dead, you’re suspending kids instead,” “We will not stop, we will not rest until UCI divests,”聽 and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” were among the chants that could be heard early in the day.

Gillman said in his campus message new demands were received by the administration and the UC system at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

“The latest campus-specific and systemwide demands made by our encampers and their counterparts across the University of California attempted to dictate that anyone who disagreed with them must conform to their opinions,” he said. “They asserted the right to oversee many elements of university operations involving the administration, faculty, students, and staff, bypassing customary campus protocols and ignoring the function of the Academic Senate.

“Most importantly, their assault on the academic freedom rights of our faculty and the free speech rights of faculty and students was appalling,” he added. “But my concern now is not the unreasonableness of their demands. It is their decision to transform a manageable situation that did not have to involve police into a situation that required a different response. I never wanted that. I devoted all of my energies to prevent this from happening.”

Police from Anaheim, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Orange, Costa Mesa, La Palma, Westminster, Newport Beach, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol were seen on campus Wednesday afternoon.

“We were asked to assist UCI PD with an escalating situation on campus,” Sgt. Karie Davies of the Irvine Police Department said in an email sent at 3:15 p.m. “Our officers are responding to the meeting point.”

Almost no protestors remain. Silence.

— Annika Bahnsen (@annika_bahnsen)

Irvine Mayor Farah Khan, who has supported the right to protest peacefully,

“It’s a shame that peaceful free speech protests are always responded to with violence,” she said. “Taking space on campus or in a building is not a threat to anyone. UCI leadership must do everything they can to avoid creating a violent scenario here. These are your students with zero weapons.”

Khan later released a statement.

“My only hope is that UCI administration will handle the situation without any physical force by police,” she said. “I understand that officers from the Sheriff’s Department and neighboring cities have been called in for mutual aid according to an MOU with the agencies. But these are unarmed students using their first amendment right to protest, as many students have done previously throughout the years. I’ve seen photos and videos and have not seen any act of violence from the students. And expect no direction to police to act with violence from UCI Administration.”

Irvine Councilmember Tammy Kim agreed “students have a right to free expression” but also said “it’s critical to ensure these expressions don’t cross the line into antisemitism and hate speech creating a threatening environment for our Jewish students, as well.”

In a released statement, Supervisor Katrina Foley, who represents the Fifth District on the OC Board of Supervisors, said while she values “the right to peacefully protest 鈥� we cannot enable the recent escalations, which include the disruption of classes and vandalization of campus property.

“UCI is a place of learning, research, and free expression. Maintaining this requires the situation surrounding these protests to remain peaceful. I reached out to the chancellor to encourage the administration practice restraint, peacefully disperse the protestors, and subsequently re-engage in negotiations with our students.”

The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned “UCI’s militarized police response” Wednesday evening and said it had staff at the campus monitoring the situation.

“These students have been engaging in nonviolent speech, and UCI must cease all attempts to intimidate and chill free speech, including the militant use of law enforcement to forcefully remove peaceful protests,” CAIR-LA officials said in their statement. “We are extremely concerned that UCI is choosing to punish students for constitutionally protected speech, especially since this police activity comes on the heels of numerous student suspensions and disciplinary actions.”

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer late Wednesday afternoon, saying his office was “working with law enforcement to monitor all protest-related activity in Orange County, including today’s protest at the University of California, Irvine.”

“The right to peaceful assembly is a constitutional right and we encourage protestors to exercise their right to peaceful assembly; however, criminal activity which transcends peaceful assembly, including violence and vandalism of any kind, will not be tolerated,” Spitzer said.

UCI’s encampment has largely been without conflict since it went up more than two weeks ago. While students have not had reached agreements with university officials as has been seen at some other campuses, there also hasn’t been some of the clashes seen elsewhere in the country, including at UCLA.

Though pro-Palestinian actions at UCLA started in mid-April, on May聽1 marked one of the most violent incidents to date in the national movement of campus protests related to Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

Over a three-hour window, arguments involving activists on both sides rose to become physical confrontations, with some using low-grade chemical weapons against each other.

The Los Angeles Police Department 鈥� criticized later for waiting several hours to intervene 鈥� eventually reported that about 15 people were hurt and at least 210 were taken into custody.聽 That encampment was cleared soon after.

Abri Magdaleno, a senior English major at UCI, said they were puzzled when they received a zotALERT that said a “violent protest” was confirmed at or near the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall.

“I haven’t heard of any evidence of violence, this is definitely the craziest alert I’ve gotten from UCI, though,” they said. “I would love to know what violence was confirmed to start this.”

A global studies professor, who did not give her name as she was detained by police, blasted UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman and blamed him for the cost associated with the large law enforcement presence Wednesday, saying the money could’ve gone to help students. When asked if she feared for her job, the professor said, “What job do I have if the students don’t have a future?”

Staff writers Hanna Kang and Andre Mouchard contributed to this article.

WASHINGTON 鈥� The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, three congressional aides said Tuesday.

It’s the first arms shipment to Israel to be announced by the administration since it put another arms transfer 鈥� consisting of 3,500 bombs 鈥� on hold earlier in the month. The administration has said it paused that earlier transfer to keep Israel from using the bombs in its growing offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.

The congressional aides spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an arms transfer that has not yet been made public.

The package being sent includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, the aides said.

There was no immediate indication when the arms would be sent. Israel is now seven months into its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans to move the package.

House Republicans were planning this week to advance a bill to mandate the delivery of offensive weaponry for Israel. Following Biden’s move to put a pause on bomb shipments last week, Republicans have been swift in their condemnation, arguing it represents the abandonment of the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East.

The White House said Tuesday that Biden would veto the bill if it were to pass Congress. The bill also has practically no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. But House Democrats are somewhat divided on the issue, and roughly two dozen have signed onto a letter to the Biden administration saying they were “deeply concerned about the message” sent by pausing the bomb shipment.

In addition to the written veto threat, the White House has been in touch with various lawmakers and congressional aides about the legislation, according to an administration official.

“We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the President’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week, adding that the administration plans to spend “every last cent” appropriated by Congress in the national security supplemental package that was signed into law by Biden last month.

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Lisa Mascaro contributed.

Cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas have reached an impasse following the Jewish state鈥檚 ground offensive on the outskirts of the Gazan city of Rafah, according to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Over the past few weeks, 鈥渨e have seen some momentum building but unfortunately things didn鈥檛 move in the right direction,鈥� Sheikh Mohammed said at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday. 鈥淩ight now, we are in a status of almost a stalemate.鈥�

Negotiations to secure at least a pause in hostilities in the seven-month war have been deadlocked for months, with the two sides far apart on elements such as the status of Israeli troops in Gaza and the terms of a release of hostages held by Hamas and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners. International mediators include Qatar, Egypt and the U.S.

Israel has at the same time begun what it calls a limited expansion of the military campaign into Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the conflict and some are now fleeing. Troops have begun to enter parts of the city, while fighting has resumed in northern areas of the enclave as Hamas starts to regroup.

The prime minister defended Qatar鈥檚 decision to host Hamas鈥檚 political bureau in the country, saying the Iran-backed group鈥檚 presence has in the past helped mediate other hostage negotiations and keeps lines of communication open for future talks. Qatar has previously said it hosts Hamas in Doha at the request of the U.S.

Helping to resolve conflict is at the heart of Qatar鈥檚 foreign policy, said Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar鈥檚 minister of foreign affairs. Still, 鈥渙ur job is limited in mediation role,鈥� he said.

Israel has been critical of what it says is Qatar鈥檚 reluctance to pressure Hamas to make concessions in the cease-fire talks, which aim to bring an end to a war that began when Hamas terrorists went on a deadly rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7. About 35,000 Palestinians have died in the subsequent conflict, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza.

Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.

About 450,000 people have left Rafah, located near the Egyptian border, in recent days, according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, warning those fleeing 鈥渇ace constant exhaustion, hunger and fear.鈥�

Israel has warned civilians to flee before an expected full-scale assault. The military says it needs to attack Rafah to target thousands of remaining Hamas fighters and some leaders it believes are based in the city.

Israel鈥檚 invasion of Rafah has 鈥渟et us back a little bit,鈥� the prime minister said. 鈥淭here is a fundamental difference between the two parties. There is a party who wants to end the war and then talk about the hostages and then there is a party who wants the hostages and wants to continue the war.鈥�

He appeared to be referring to the Hamas demand for the cease-fire to be permanent, which Israel won鈥檛 accept.

The government of the State of Qatar is the underwriter of the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg.

鈥擶ith assistance from Dana Khraiche and Omar Tamo.

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