Pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University again set up tents

By Islam Dogru

NEW YORK (AA) – Pro-Palestinian students are setting up tents again at New York’s Columbia University, which spearheaded university protests in support of Palestine this spring, according to drone footage taken by Anadolu.

Students in the area hung banners saying "While you profit, Rafah burns" and "All eyes on Rafah" urging the university administration, criticized for its support of companies backing Israel's offensive on Gaza, to sever ties with them.

Participation at the camp, which started being set up at the university on Friday, is expected to rise.

Pro-Palestine campus protests have been taking place in the US since April, when students at Columbia launched an encampment in solidarity with Gaza and demanded that the school divest from Israel.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested at US campuses amid heavily polarized debates over the right to protest, the limits of free speech, and accusations of antisemitism.

Demonstrations and sit-ins are also being held on campuses in parts of Europe, including France, the Netherlands and Switzerland, amid a wider call against Israeli attacks on Gaza that have killed more than 36,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured more than 82,000 amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war.