US proposes 'bridge' to extend Gaza ceasefire, Hamas send team to Cairo

Pro-Palestine students are leading a large march this evening from Columbia University in Manhattan, New York, calling for the release of Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil and condemning the university’s decision to expel students who support Palestine.

Participants carried banners and held up photos in solidarity with Khalil and other pro-Palestine students.

UP UP WITH LIBERATION 🇵🇸
DOWN DOWN WITH OCCUPATION‼️

📍 120th St & Broadway pic.twitter.com/rKJvo4K2V6

— Within Our Lifetime (@WOLPalestine) March 14, 2025

The U.S. Justice Department is examining whether student protests at Columbia University over the Gaza war violated federal terrorism laws, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Friday.

Blanche said the investigation is also looking into civil rights violations tied to the demonstrations that roiled the New York campus last year.

Blanche, the Justice Department's second-highest ranking official, said the investigation was part of President Donald Trump administration's "mission to end antisemitism in this country."

"We are also looking at whether Columbia's handling of earlier incidents violated civil rights laws and included terrorist crimes," Blanche said. "This is long overdue."

Blanche added that federal law enforcement had executed a search warrant on Thursday night as part of a separate probe into whether Columbia University harbored undocumented immigrants on its campus.

US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that one of the Columbia University students whose student visa was revoked over pro-Palestine activism has self-deported, according to Al Jazeera.

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student in urban planning at Columbia University, "used the CBP One app to self-deport on March 11."

The DHS statement also confirmed that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian student from the occupied West Bank, for overstaying her student visa. "Her visa was terminated on January 26, 2022, for lack of attendance," the department said.

The statement added: "Previously, in April 2024, Kordia was arrested for her involvement in pro-Hamas protests at Columbia University in New York City."

The United States is proposing a "bridge" plan to extend the ceasefire in Gaza into April beyond Ramadan and Passover and allow time to negotiate a permanent cessation of hostilities, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

The proposal was presented on Wednesday by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Council official Eric Trager, according to a statement issued by their offices.

"Through our Qatari and Egyptian partners, Hamas was told in no uncertain terms that this “bridge” would have to be implemented soon — and that dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander would have to be released immediately," it added. 

Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Khirbet al-Marjam in the occupied West Bank on Thursday night, burning three houses and a number of cars in the latest in a series of raids that have surged during the war in Gaza.

Local residents said settlers stormed through the village, firing live ammunition and hurling teargas bombs at people trying to put out the flames. CCTV footage showed masked individuals entering Palestinians' property, throwing objects around and destroying a security camera.

"They climbed on top of the house and started to throw stones," resident Maysoom Msalam said. "They broke the door and the windows. Then they burnt this door and entered and set fire inside the house."

The White House accused Hamas on Friday of making "entirely impractical" demands and stalling on a deal to release a US-Israeli hostage in exchange for an extension of the Gaza ceasefire.

"Hamas is making a very bad bet that time is on its side. It is not," a statement from the office of President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and the US National Security Council said.

"Hamas is well aware of the deadline, and should know that we will respond accordingly if that deadline passes," it said, adding that Trump had already vowed Hamas would "pay a severe price" for not freeing hostages.

The negotiating team of Hamas, led by Khalil al-Hayya, is heading to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials.

According to a statement on the Palestinian group’s Telegram, the delegation will follow up on developments in the negotiations and the ceasefire agreement.

Protesters gathered outside the BBC headquarters to protest the double standards in its coverage of the Israeli genocide in Gaza against the Palestinians. pic.twitter.com/qfcngzlvix

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 14, 2025

The US and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians forcibly displaced from the Gaza Strip under President Donald Trump's plan for the devastated territory, American and Israeli officials say.

The contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the US and Israel to press ahead with a plan that has been widely condemned and raised serious legal and moral issues.

Because all three places are poor, and in some cases wracked by violence, the proposal also casts doubt on Trump’s stated goal of resettling Gaza’s Palestinians in a "beautiful area".

Read the full story here 

Qatar will provide natural gas supplies to Syria with the aim of generating 400 megawatts of electricity a day, in a measure to help address the war-battered country’s severe electricity shortages, Syrian state-run news agency SANA reported Friday.

Syria’s interim Minister of Electricity Omar Shaqrouq said the Qatari supplies are expected to increase the daily state-provided electricity supply from two to four hours per day.

Under the deal, Qatar will send 2 million cubic meters of natural gas a day to the Deir Ali power station, south of Damascus, via a pipeline passing through Jordan.

Qatar’s state-run news agency said that the initiative was part of an agreement between the Qatar Fund for Development and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program and "aims to address the country’s severe shortage in electricity production and enhance its infrastructure".

Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies warned on Thursday of the threat from Iran's growing use of arbitrary detention and foreign assassination attempts as a tool of coercion, a final draft statement seen by Reuters showed.

The G7 nations, comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, said in a statement that Tehran was a principle source of instability in the Middle East and urged it to resume diplomacy over its nuclear programme.

The final draft, approved by diplomats, still has to be given the green light by ministers later on Friday.

The G7 on Friday called for the resumption of "unhindered" humanitarian aid for Gaza, marking a possible shift in the US position under President Donald Trump, whose administration had not previously criticized Israel for blocking aid.

In a final statement from their foreign ministers in Canada, the group of powerful democracies "reaffirmed their support for the resumption of unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza and for a permanent ceasefire".

The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced Friday.

"The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism," Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X.

Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or "Abu Khadija," was "deputy caliph" of the militant group and as "one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world," the statement said.

A security official said the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. A second official said the operation took place Thursday night but that al-Rifai's death was confirmed Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly.

The operation and the visit come at a time when Iraqi officials are anxious about an IS resurgence in the wake of the fall of Assad in Syria.

Iraq said Friday it hoped for "tangible results" from an investigation launched by Syria's new authorities into mass killings of civilians by the security forces that largely targeted the Alawite minority.

"We discussed what happened to the Alawite community... and we expressed our concern," Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told a joint news conference with his Syrian counterpart. He said he hoped the commission of inquiry formed by Damascus "would achieve tangible results that establish civil peace in Syria."

The interim government in Syria is ready to "reinforce" cooperation with Iraq in the fight against the Islamic State group, visiting Foreign Minister Assaad al-Shaibani said Friday.

"Security is a shared responsibility," Shaibani told a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart. "We are ready to reinforce cooperation with Iraq in the fight against Daesh (an Arabic acronym for IS) along the whole length of the border. Terrorism knows no borders."

Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Khirbet al-Marjam in the occupied West Bank on Thursday night, burning three houses and a number of cars in the latest in a series of raids that have surged during the war in Gaza.

Local residents said settlers stormed through the village, firing live ammunition and hurling teargas bombs at people trying to put out the flames. CCTV footage showed masked individuals entering Palestinians' property, throwing objects around and destroying a security camera.

The Israeli military said troops and police intervened to disperse a group of masked Israelis who had set property on fire. It said there had been an earlier report that Palestinians had attempted to steal a herd of animals belonging to Israelis.

Ghassan Daghlas, governor of the nearby city of Nablus, dismissed suggestions that Palestinians had provoked the attack.

A Palestinian family survived a potential massacre after settlers set fire to their home while they were inside in Khirbet al-Marajim, near the town of Douma, southern Nablus. pic.twitter.com/fbyToQkov7

— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) March 14, 2025

Somalia Foreign Minister has rejected any plan that would involve the use of Somali territory for the resettlement of Palestinians. 

At least four people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Zeitoun neighbourhood in the southern part of Gaza City.

Gaza City is facing an escalating environmental disaster as streets are flooded with sewage, exacerbating the already dire conditions caused by Israel's blockade.

The closure of fuel supplies and electricity cuts have forced the shutdown of crucial sewage pumping stations. "The situation is now out of control," warned Gaza City municipality spokesperson Hosni Mahna.

With sewage flooding the streets, residents face a looming public health crisis marked by foul odours, insects, and rodents.

Israel on Friday said Hamas has "not budged" in Gaza truce talks and is engaged in "psychological warfare", after the Palestinian group said it is ready to free an Israeli-American hostage and the bodies of others.

"Whereas Israel accepted the Witkoff framework, Hamas remains firm in its refusal and has not budged an inch," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, referring to US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and accusing Hamas of resorting to "manipulation and psychological warfare".

A group of around 60 Syrian Druze clerics crossed the armistice line on the Golan Heights into Israel for their community's first pilgrimage in decades.

The delegation is set to meet Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s Druze community, before visiting the tomb of Nabi Shuaib in the Galilee, a significant religious site for the Druze.

The Druze, followers of an esoteric monotheistic faith, are primarily spread across Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

More than 80,000 Palestinians gathered for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, despite Israeli military-imposed movement restrictions from the West Bank.

The majority of attendees were Palestinian citizens of Israel, as the military limited permits for worshippers from the West Bank.

Access to the mosque was restricted to men over 55 and women over 50, with all visitors required to have a permit, leaving many Palestinians unable to attend the prayers at Islam’s third holiest site.

.@Asaad_Shaibani, Syria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, has arrived in Baghdad: Rudaw

— Wladimir van Wilgenburg (@vvanwilgenburg) March 14, 2025

Ireland welcomed a plan for Gaza reconstruction recently adopted by Arab countries as an alternative to Donald Trump's controversial proposal to displace Palestinians to neighbouring countries. 

In a statement, Irish Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Defence Simon Harris said that the initiative provides a "realistic and sustainable path to the reconstruction of Gaza".

It added: "This must be grounded in a solid political and security framework, which provides long-term peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians."

Hamas on Friday said it is ready to free an Israeli-American hostage and the remains of four other dual nationals, after the Palestinian group and Israel gathered for indirect Gaza ceasefire talks.

The first phase of a truce between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip ended on March 1, without agreement on the next stages. A senior Hamas official on Tuesday said a fresh round of talks had begun in the Qatari capital Doha. Israel had also sent a team of negotiators.

"Yesterday, a Hamas leadership delegation received a proposal from the brotherly mediators to resume negotiations," the group said in a statement.

It added that its reply "included its agreement to release the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who holds American citizenship, along with the remains of four others holding dual citizenship".

The mayor of Miami Beach wants to evict an independent cinema house from city-owned property for playing "No Other Land" about Palestinian displacement, which recently won the Oscar for best documentary feature.

The joint Palestinian-Israeli film focuses on the continuous destruction of a Palestinian community in Masafer Yatta in the occupied West Bank.

The move by the Florida mayor to withdraw the film comes as civil rights advocates across the US are urging for widespread distribution of the film.

Read the full story here

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar has announced the dissolution of his right-wing New Hope faction and its merger with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right Likud party.

Hamas says it agreed to release the Israeli American hostage with the other four bodies of hostages. 

Hamas denounced Israel’s decision to ban Palestinian worshippers from praying at the al-Aqsa Mosque on the second Friday of Ramadan.

The Palestinian group slammed Israel’s restrictions during the holy month as a "dangerous escalation" and a "religious war".

In a statement, they said: "The continued banning of worshippers from spending the night in prayer at Al-Aqsa for the second consecutive year represents a systematic attack on Muslim practices and an intensification of efforts to Judaize Jerusalem and its sacred sites."

Israeli forces shot and killed two people attempting to cross into Israel from Jordan near the northern town of Beit She’an in the early hours of Friday morning.

According to Israel, the two individuals were part of a larger group of at least eight people trying to enter Israel illegally. The remaining six members of the group were arrested by Israeli forces shortly after the killings.

Last night, dozens of hardcore Israeli settlers under army protection broke into an archeological site in the village of Kifl Hares in the occupied West Bank, and performed rituals there. pic.twitter.com/zsorW2i9zY

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 14, 2025

As the crises facing the Palestinian people intensify, with existential challenges on the ground and in politics, the intransigence of the Israeli occupation and its refusal to end the war leave little room for hope. Yet, ignoring the "catastrophe" unfolding before them, Hamas and Fatah seem determined to deepen their divide.

This past Tuesday, 11 March, the Palestinian Authority's (PA) presidency criticised Hamas for opening direct channels of communication with "international parties", including the United States, in negotiations not authorised by "national institutions" and "bypassed Arab and Palestinian consensus". 

In a press statement, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the Palestinian presidency's spokesperson, described these acts by Hamas as a "serious violation of the Palestinian national consensus" and "threaten to undermine Palestinian political unity". 

Read the full story here 

Gaza's civil defence agency crews exhumed at least 48 Palestinian bodies from a mass grave found at al-Shifa Hospital's grounds.

 The US and Israel have contacted officials of three East African countries to discuss using their territories for resettling Palestinians from Gaza, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing US and Israeli officials.

Officials from Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somaliland were contacted regarding the proposal, the AP reported, citing U.S. and Israeli officials as sources.

However, Sudan officials said they rejected the proposal from the U.S. and officials from Somalia and Somaliland said they were unaware of any contacts.

Hamas has reaffirmed its commitment to the current ceasefire agreement, suggesting its intention to proceed to the second stage of negotiations aimed at securing the release of more Israeli hostages.

According to a senior Hamas official, the Palestinian group is prepared to adhere to the terms of the ceasefire, which would be extended by an additional 60 days in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages.

A report by United Nations experts has accused Israel of committing "genocidal acts" during its ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

The report, released on March 13, claims that the Israeli forces have targeted hospitals, maternity wards, and IVF clinics in what is described as a systematic attack on Gaza's healthcare infrastructure.

The UN experts further accuse Israel of using sexual violence as part of its military strategy, marking an alarming escalation in the tactics being employed in the conflict.

In response to the findings, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently rejected the UN's accusations, dismissing them as "biased" and "antisemitic".

Israeli forces have launched new airstrikes across Gaza, killing at least two children in the northern areas of Gaza City and Beit Lahiya. 

These fatalities come amid heightened concerns over the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli blockade on aid continues for the 13th consecutive day.

The blockade, which has severely restricted the flow of essential supplies, including food, medicine, and fuel, has worsened the already dire conditions for millions of Palestinians living in the enclave.