Students at Columbia University took over Hamilton Hall just after midnight after the school began suspending students who refused to leave the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which began almost two weeks ago. The hall was also the site of a historic student occupation in 1968. Students have renamed the building Hind Hall in honor of Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.

Protester: [echoed by the people’s mic] “This building is liberated in honor of Hind, a 6-year-old Palestinian child murdered in Gaza!”

Police across the country are continuing to crack down on student protesters calling for an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza. In Texas, police made at least 100 arrests Monday at a student-led encampment at the University of Texas at Austin.

Earlier this morning, police raided an encampment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, arresting at least 25 people.

In California, officials at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt have closed the school’s campus for the rest of the semester in an effort to shut down a student occupation.

Meanwhile, at The New School in New York, students have expanded their protest by occupying the lobby of the Parsons School of Design. Students at the Fashion Institute of Technology are continuing their encampment in the school lobby, as well.

New protest encampments have begun at a number of schools, including the University of Chicago and the University of Oregon.

Campus protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza have also spread overseas, including Sorbonne University in Paris, where students said they were inspired by the protests at Columbia.

Leonard: “I think that today we have the same concern as elsewhere, as at Columbia, as at Sciences Po, and how it has been happening for six months. We’re denouncing what we are seeing before our eyes — that is to say, the genocide of the Palestinian people, which is being committed by the state of Israel with the active complicity of the French government — not just the French, of course, but as this is our government, in my opinion, we must denounce it.”

The student protests come as the death toll in Gaza has topped 34,500, including over 14,500 children.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken has arrived in Jordan as negotiations continue over a proposed 40-day ceasefire and a deal to release more hostages held in Gaza. Blinken urged Hamas to accept the current proposal.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken: “Hamas has before it a proposal that is extraordinarily, extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel. And in this moment, the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas. They have to decide, and they have to decide quickly.”

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan criticized Blinken’s comment. Hamdan told Al Jazeera, “Stopping the attacks against Palestinians is not generous. The attack itself is a crime, so when you stop a crime, you can’t claim that it’s a generous action from the Israeli side.” Hamas officials are reviewing the current proposal. 

Israel is continuing to attack Rafah and other parts of Gaza. One Palestinian woman, Umm Fayez Abu Taha, spoke to a reporter in Rafah while holding an infant after surviving an Israeli airstrike.

Umm Fayez Abu Taha: “We took her from under the rubble, thank God. She is 2 months old, and thank God. Was she holding a rocket, or was she standing near tanks? What’s her fault? What would her fault have been if she had been injured or martyred? What would her fault have been? … The entire world is seeing what’s happening to us. They carry out negotiations and things, but we feel like this is all in vain. It’s like they’re giving us some anesthetic, not more. They carry out negotiations while Israel strikes. Look at us with some compassion, with some humanity. Fear God. This is all we ask for. We’re not asking for much. Just end the war, nothing more.”

Politico is reporting a group of lawyers, including 20 that work in the Biden administration, are calling on the president to halt military aid to Israel. In a letter, the attorneys write, “The law is clear and aligned with the majority of Americans who believe the U.S. should cease arms shipments to Israel until it stops its military operation in Gaza.” The letter also urges the Justice Department to investigate whether war crimes charges could be brought against U.S. citizens serving in the Israeli military.

Amnesty International is also calling on President Biden to halt arms sales to Israel. In a new report, Amnesty documents how Israel has used U.S.-supplied weapons to kill Palestinian civilians. 

The Biden administration is claiming the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction to charge Israeli officials for war crimes. This comes amid reports that the ICC may be close to issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, as well as members of Hamas. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel spoke on Monday.

Vedant Patel: “Since this president has come into office, we have worked to reset our relationship with the ICC, and we are in contact with the court on a range of issues, including in connection to the court’s important work on Darfur, on Ukraine, on Sudan, as well. But on this investigation, our position is clear: We continue to believe that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the Palestinian situation.”

The U.S. has long criticized the ICC, but last year President Biden ordered U.S. agencies to share evidence with the court after it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin after invading and occupying Ukraine.

On Capitol Hill, a number of lawmakers — both Republicans and Democrats — threatened to retaliate against the ICC if it takes action against Israel. Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania said, “It would be a fatal blow to the judicial and moral standing of ICC to pursue this path against Israel.”

A group of more than 50 journalism professors have written to The New York Times calling on the paper to commission an independent review of its report that members of Hamas committed widespread sexual violence on October 7. Numerous media outlets have raised questions about the paper’s reporting, which was written in part by a freelance Israeli journalist who had liked multiple posts on social media advocating for violence against Palestinians.

In news from Ukraine, a Russian missile attack on the city of Odesa has killed five and left at least eight people seriously injured. The missile struck the Odesa Law Academy, which is known locally as the Harry Potter castle. 

The United States is warning a “large-scale massacre” could soon occur in the Sudanese city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The city has been a key hub for humanitarian groups, but fighting has begun between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke on Monday.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield: “As we speak, the RSF is planning an imminent attack on El Fasher. As I’ve said before, history is repeating itself in Darfur in the worst possible way. And an attack on El Fasher would be a disaster on top of a disaster. It would put 500,000 internally displaced persons at risk, people who traveled from across Darfur to seek refuge. And that’s on top of the 2 million Sudanese who call El Fasher home.”

The Washington Post has revealed senior members of India’s spy agency were directly involved in a foiled plot to kill a prominent Sikh activist who lives in New York City. The Post reports the assassination plan was signed off by an officer in India’s spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. The Post also reports U.S. intelligence agencies believe Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national security adviser was aware of the assassination plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who advocates for an independent state for Sikhs in northern India. Modi’s government has denied any involvement, blaming the assassination plot on rogue operatives. 

An unprecedented heat wave continues to bake large areas of Southeast Asia. Schools have been closed in Bangladesh and parts of the Philippines. The temperature in Burma has reached as high as 118 degrees. The heat wave is also impacting Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and India. The World Meteorological Organization recently reported the climate crisis impacted Asia more than any other region in 2023. 

President Biden has called on Congress again to pass an assault weapons ban after four law enforcement officers, including three U.S. marshals. were shot dead in Charlotte, North Carolina, as they attempted to serve a warrant on a man wanted for firearms possession. Four other officers were wounded in the shootout, which also left the wanted individual dead. Johnny Jennings is the chief of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Johnny Jennings: “So, about 1:30 p.m. this afternoon, the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force went to the 5000 block of Galway Avenue in attempt to serve a warrant on an individual for possession of firearm by a convicted felon. When they approached that individual, they were met with gunfire. Officers returned gunfire and struck the victim, who was later pronounced deceased in the front yard of the residence. As officers approached that individual, they then received additional gunfire from inside of the residence.”

The United Auto Workers and Daimler Truck reached a deal Friday to avert a possible strike at the truck and bus manufacturer in North Carolina. Under the tentative deal, 7,000 workers at Daimler Truck will see their salaries increase by 25% over the next four years. This is UAW President Shawn Fain.

Shawn Fain: “Time’s up for billionaires who think working-class people can’t stand up for themselves. Time’s up for a system of exploitation that destroys lives, that destroys families and destroys communities. … And the clock has run out on corporate greed. Today belongs to the working class.”