Israel Gaza: Top US colleges struggle with widening protests

Protests against the war in Gaza have spread from Columbia and Yale to other universities as officials scramble to diffuse a burgeoning protest movement.

On Monday night, police moved to break up a protest at New York University and made a number of arrests.

Dozens of students were arrested at Yale earlier in the day while Columbia cancelled in-person classes.

Similar "encampments" have sprung up at Berkeley, MIT and other colleges across the country.

Demonstrations and heated debates about the Israel-Gaza war and free speech have rocked US campuses since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

About 1,200 Israelis and foreigners - mostly civilians - were killed and 253 others were taken back to Gaza as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel responded by launching its most intense ever war in Gaza with the aims of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages. More than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza - most of them children and women - have been killed in the conflict, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says.

In the US, students on both sides say there has been a rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents.

When asked about the campus protests on Monday, President Joe Biden said he condemned "the antisemitic protests" as well as "those who don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians".