University of Amsterdam students join pro-Palestinian protests

GENEVA

A pro-Palestinian protest began at the University of Amsterdam on Monday as students occupied a building of the university, according to media reports.

The ANP news agency reported that police have filed a report against the protesters, who are demanding an end to Israel's war in Gaza, for acts of vandalism.

Currently, police are blocking access to the university building and urging the demonstrators to voluntarily vacate the premises.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 76,600 others injured in a brutal Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year that killed nearly 1,200 people.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

In an interim ruling in January, The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in Gaza, ordering it to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in the enclave.

South Africa on Friday asked the ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from the southern Gaza city of Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war.