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Barnard College's library was evacuated Wednesday as police responded to a bomb threat during a sit-in staged by pro-Palestinian protesters.

The New York Police Department said on X, formerly Twitter, that a bomb threat was reported at the upper Manhattan college's Milstein Center, which serves as the hub for academic life on campus.

The department said anyone refusing to leave the building during the evacuation would be subject to arrest. “Please stay away from the area,â€� the police said in its post.

The department said later that officers were still on the scene and that arrests had been made. But it was still unclear how many were in custody and what charges they faced.

The NYPD is responding to a bomb threat at the Milstein Center at Barnard College and is evacuating the building. Anyone who refuses to leave the location is subject to arrest. Please stay away from the area.

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews)

A nine-year-old girl was shot in the head by Israeli forces in the south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reports.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the girl was taken to Rafidia Hospital.

Hamas officials said Wednesday the group has held direct talks with a US envoy on freeing captives held in Gaza, after the White House said it was engaged in talks with the Palestinian group.

"Several communications took place between Hamas and various American communication channels, the latest being with a US envoy and discussed the issue of Israeli prisoners who hold American citizenship, both the living and the deceased," said a Hamas official who asked to remain anonymous.

A second senior Hamas official said there had been "two direct meetings between Hamas and US officials in Doha in recent days."

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday extended threats against Hamas to the entire Palestinian population in Gaza, saying they would face death if they hold hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

"Also, to the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do, you are DEAD!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, threatening that there would be "hell to pay" if the hostages were not released.

US President Donald Trump warned Wednesday that Hamas leaders had a final chance to leave Gaza, ramping up pressure for the group to release captives.

"I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don't do as I say," he wrote on Truth Social.

"This is your last warning! For the leadership, now is the time to leave Gaza, while you still have a chance."

Hundreds of Palestinians were forced to break their fast at the Beit Furik military checkpoint, east of Nablus - Wafa â€‹â¶Ä‹â¶Ä‹â¶Ä‹â¶Ä‹â¶Ä‹r±ð±è´Ç°ù³Ù²õ.

Local sources told the publication that hundreds broke their fast while waiting in long queues as the Israeli army tightens its restrictions on Palestinians' movement.

The army has installed 898 fixed and flying checkpoints and gates, adding 18 since the start of the year and 146 installed after October 2023.

Israel's justice minister took a first step on Wednesday toward removing the country's attorney general from office, a measure that could spark a new constitutional crisis and help the government enact policies that have drawn fierce criticism.

Appointed by the previous government, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has often sparred with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist-religious coalition over the legality of its bills and policies.

In a letter to fellow cabinet ministers, Justice Minister Yariv Levin proposed a no-confidence measure against Baharav-Miara, citing substantial differences between the government and the attorney general.

Baharav-Miara was celebrated by the opposition as a gatekeeper of democracy in 2023 when Netanyahu's government launched a bid to overhaul Israel's justice system and give elected politicians more power over the Supreme Court.

Differences with the attorney general that have had a direct impact on the governing coalition's stability also include exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students from military conscription.

Those issues are yet to be resolved in Israel's parliament.

(Reuters)

Iraq's national security adviser said Wednesday that authorities were actively searching for Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian academic kidnapped nearly two years ago in Baghdad.

Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University and fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, has been missing in Iraq since March 2023.

Israeli authorities said later she had been kidnapped, blaming a pro-Iranian group for her disappearance.

Hamas must have no role in the Gaza Strip, a group of European nations said Wednesday after a UN Security Council meeting on the territory's future.

The meeting discussed a plan adopted Tuesday by Arab countries to rebuild Gaza and place it under the Palestinian Authority, an alternative to President Donald Trump's plan for the United States to take control of the territory and resettle its residents elsewhere.

Speaking on behalf of France, Britain, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia, French diplomat Jay Dharmadhikari said the final plan should neither allow Hamas to continue governing Gaza nor displace the Palestinians who live there.

"We are clear that any plan must have no role for Hamas, must ensure Israel's security, must not displace Palestinians from Gaza," said Dharmadhikari, France's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations in New York.

It should also "support the unity of the West Bank and Gaza under the Palestinian Authority's mandate," he told journalists, referring to the body that partly controls the Israeli-occupied West Bank, run by Hamas rivals Fatah.

Israel confirmed it had held talks with the US, conveying its stance with the White House's direct negotiations with Hamas.

"In our contacts with the US," Netanyahu's office said. "Israel expressed its stance on direct talks with Hamas."

The White House confirmed Wednesday that a US envoy spoke directly with Hamas to secure American captives, a break in policy for Washington which considers the Palestinian group a terrorist organisation.

"Israel was consulted on this matter, and look, dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what's in the best interest of the American people is something that the President" believes is right, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

An Israeli teenager injured in a car ramming attack last week has died of her wounds, the mayor of the city where she attended school said Wednesday.

"A difficult and painful announcement: Yahli Gur, a student at the Future Challenge high school in Harish, who was critically injured in the attack at the Karkur junction last week, passed away today from her injuries," Harish mayor Yizhak Keshetsaid said on Facebook.

Gur, 17, attended school in Harish, a city in northern Israel, but she was a resident of the town of Pardes Hanna-Karkur, where Thursday's attack took place.

She had been waiting at a bus stop when she was struck by a vehicle in what police called a suspected "terror attack".

Police said the vehicle was driven by a 53-year-old Palestinian from the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank who was married to an Israeli citizen and had been in Israel unlawfully.

The police said the suspect had been detained and that "preliminary findings indicate that he deliberately targeted civilians".

Israel has demolished a record number of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem i8n 2024, a rights group organisation said on Wednesday.

Ir Amim, which tracks settlement activity and demolitions in the city, said that 181 homes and dozens of other structures were destroyed last year.

Israel also appears to have dropped a longstanding policy against demolishing homes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last weekend, the group stated. It said a residential building and three apartments have been destroyed over the past week.

The Trump administration has been conducting secret talks with Hamas on the possibility of releasing U.S. hostages being held in Gaza, a source briefed on the conversations told Reuters.

US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler has been holding the direct talks with Hamas in recent weeks in Doha, the source said, confirming a report by Axios.

Until recently the United States had avoided direct discussions with the militant group. The U.S. State Department designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Boehler's office declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The source said the talks have focused on gaining the release of American hostages still held in Gaza, but also have included discussions about a broader deal to release all remaining hostages and how to reach a long-term truce.

France, the United Kingdom and Germany on Wednesday urged Israel to ensure the "unhindered" delivery of humanitarian supplies to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory of Gaza, warning against using aid as a "political tool".

A fragile ceasefire since January 19 saw an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, before Israel on Sunday announced it was blocking deliveries until Palestinian militant group Hamas accepted its terms for an extension of the truce.

"We call on the government of Israel to abide by its international obligations to ensure full, rapid, safe and unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance to the population in Gaza," the countries said in a joint statement.

"A halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza such as that announced by the government of Israel would risk violating international humanitarian law," they said.

"Humanitarian aid should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool."

The three European nations described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as "catastrophic".

The United States on Wednesday sanctioned seven Houthi leaders and an individual who sent Yemeni civilians to fight for Russia in Ukraine, a day after reimposing a terrorist designation against the Yemeni militant group.

"These individuals have smuggled military-grade items and weapon systems into Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and also negotiated Houthi weapons procurements from Russia," the US Treasury Department said in a statement announcing the sanctions.

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar claimed that half of Hamas' budget came from foreign aid trucks into war-hit Gaza, as in conversation with his UK counterpart David Lammy.

"During the 42-day phase one, 25,000 aid trucks entered Gaza - half of Hamas' budget in Gaza comes from these trucks! Hamas is restoring its military capabilities and recruiting new, young terrorists. This cannot continue!," he said on X.

Sa'ar also urged that Hamas "must accept" Steve Witkoff's proposal to extend the temporary ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, as long as the Palestinian group releases the remaining captives.

Qatar on Wednesday rebuffed what it said were "false accusations" by Israel's domestic security agency attributing funds from the Gulf state to an increase in Hamas's military strength before its unprecedented October 7 2023 attack.

"False accusations made by the Shin Bet security agency linking Qatari aid to the October 7 attack are yet another example of deflection driven by self-interest and self-preservation in Israeli politics," Qatar's International Media Office said in a statement.

The security agency published findings from an internal probe on Tuesday acknowledging its own failings in preventing the over-border attack from Gaza on southern Israel which sparked 15 months of war in the Palestinian territory.

The Shin Bet report also said "the influx of Qatari funds and their transfer to the military wing" was one of the "main reasons for the strengthening of Hamas that allowed it to launch the attack," according to its executive summary.

"It is well known within Israel and internationally that all aid sent from Qatar to Gaza was transferred with the full knowledge, support, and supervision of the current and previous Israeli administrations and their security agencies -- including the Shin Bet," the Qatari statement said.

"No aid has ever been delivered to Hamas's political or military wing," it added.

The Israeli military said it demolished two homes on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron belonging to Palestinians accused of carrying out a deadly attack in Tel Aviv in October of 2024.

In a statement, the military said its forces "destroyed in Hebron the homes of the two terrorists who carried out the attack at the Jaffa light rail station in which seven Israelis and foreign residents were murdered and 15 additional civilians were injured".

The assailants, armed with "an M-16 automatic rifle, several magazines, and a knife", according to Israeli police, had opened fire on tram passengers and pedestrians.

One of the attackers, 19-year-old Muhammad Misk, was shot dead in the street, while the other, Ahmad al-Haimoni, was wounded and arrested, police said.

Haimoni had lived on the second story of a three-story house. The middle floor of the structure was demolished with explosives, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

Israel, whose army has occupied the West Bank since 1967, regularly destroys the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis.

The Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said it remains dedicated to delivering necessary medical care for Gaza's most vulnerable through medical points in shelters, as the war-ravaged territory suffers an Israeli-imposed blockade amid the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

"UNRWA remains one of the largest health actors operating in Gaza. The agency provides up to 17,000 consultations daily, with over 7.6 million primary healthcare consultations sine the war started," it said on X.

South Africa on Wednesday denounced Israel's restriction of aid into war-ravaged Gaza since the weekend, saying it amounted to using starvation as a weapon of war.

"Preventing food from entering Gaza is a continuation of Israel's use of starvation as a weapon of war as part of the ongoing campaign of what the ICJ ruled to be plausible genocide against the Palestinian people," the foreign ministry said in a statement, referring to South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

The UN food agency says it only has enough food supplies in the Gaza Strip to keep public kitchens and bakeries open for less than two weeks, after Israel halted the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies.

The Israeli blockade over the weekend is aimed at pressuring Hamas to accept an alternative ceasefire arrangement six weeks into their fragile truce.

Palestinians said prices spiked as people rushed to markets to stock up on supplies after Israel announced the tightening of its blockade. After more than 16 months of war, Gaza’s population is entirely dependent on trucked-in food and other aid. Most are displaced from their homes, and many need shelter.

Israeli forces raided on Wednesday Fatah's office in the Tulkarem district, damaging its contents.

Eyad Jarad, Fatah's secretary in Tulkarem, told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that Israeli forces stormed the office after they blew up its main gate. Forces carried out a thorough search, ransacking the office and scattering files.

Lebanese official media said two people were wounded Wednesday when Israeli drones struck a vehicle in the south, a day after a deadly raid and despite an Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

"Israeli drones carried out more than one strike on a vehicle in Ras Naqoura, near a rubbish dump" south of a United Nations peacekeeping position, the National News Agency (NNA) said.

"Two siblings who were collecting scrap metal" were wounded and taken to hospital, it added.

The strikes come a day after Israel's military said it killed a Hezbollah navy commander in the south, accusing the slain militant of violating the November 27 ceasefire.

The truce largely halted more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, including two months of full-blown war during which Israel sent in ground troops.

Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanese territory since the agreement took effect in a violation of the ceasefire.

New armed forces chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said during his inauguration on Wednesday that Israel's mission to defeat Palestinian militant group Hamas was "not accomplished".

"I accept command of the (Israeli military) with modesty and humility... Hamas has indeed suffered a severe blow, but it has not yet been defeated. The mission is not yet accomplished," Zamir said, amid deadlock in negotiations on next steps in a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza.

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Former tank commander Eyal Zamir will on Wednesday become Israel's new armed forces chief, being sworn in as Israel continues to blockade the Gaza Strip following the expiry of a ceasefire which halted 15 months of Tel Aviv's military onslaught.

Previously director of the defence ministry, Zamir will replace outgoing chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halev, who resigned admitting he failed to fulfil his mandate.

Zamir will also take over operations in the occupied West Bank, where the military has deployed tanks in recent weeks for the first time in 20 years.

Four Palestinians in Ramallah were injured on Wednesday morning after Israeli soldiers fired at a vehicle during a raid.

The soldiers opened fire on a vehicle in the Ein Sabah neighbourhood according to Palestinian news agency Wafa, which resulted in the injury of a man and woman with live bullets.

Two other women were assaulted in the raid.

More than 200 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered Tuesday in front of Columbia University in New York to demonstrate against former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, who was at the campus for a speaking engagement.

After more than a year of protests at the campus by both supporters of Israel and opponents of the assault on Gaza after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, the appearance of the former leader of Israel's far-right was met with expected pushback.

"The decision to host a man with such a violent and openly discriminatory record sends a message that the university values some voices over others," a spokesperson for Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition -- one of the groups taking part in the protest -- said in a statement.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said he would take part in a meeting Wednesday of the international chemical weapons watchdog in the Netherlands, nearly three months after Bashar al-Assad's ouster.

"Today, for the first time in Syria's history, I am attending the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague," Shaibani said in a statement on X.

"This participation reaffirms Syria's commitment to international security and honours those who lost their lives suffocating at the hands of the Assad regime," he added.

Assad was repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons during Syria's 13-year civil war, and there has been widespread concern about the fate of Syria's stockpile since his December 8 ouster.

Israel has carried out a number of overnight raids in the West Bank, arrested over a dozen Palestinians in several towns across the occupied territory.

Arrests occurred in Salfit, Nablus, Ramallah and the Tulkarem refugee camp.