STORY: The protesters who surrendered peacefully to be arrested, joined students at several universities, including Columbia, Yale and New York University - that have taken part to protest Israel's military operations in Gaza in response to the deadly October 7th attacks by Hamas.

On many campuses, protesters have set up unauthorized tent encampments to press their demands.

Since Friday, hundreds of students and others have been arrested at Columbia, Yale and NYU, while critics, including prominent Republican members of the U.S. Congress, have stepped up accusations of antisemitism and harassment by at least some protesters.

STORY: The Swedish city of Malmo is gearing up to host the Eurovision Song Contest against a backdrop of heightened security and planned protests over Israel’s participation.

Eurovision is the biggest contest of its kind in the world.

Two hundred million people are expected to tune in.

And about 100,000 are expected to travel to Sweden’s third-largest city.

Earlier this month, protesters denounced Israel’s participation in a protest outside Malmo’s City Hall.

And multiple large pro-Palestinian protests are planned outside the contest venue.

Protest signs are already up around the city.

Malmo resident Orwa Kadoura is a Palestinian who is helping to organize protests.

The feelings around Israel’s participation, he says, are difficult and multi-layered, including anger, sadness and a feeling of injustice.

The European Broadcasting Union — or EBU — organizes the contest.

It’s resisted calls for Israel to be excluded over the war in Gaza and says the event is non-political.

Still, the EBU banned Russia in 2022 after several European public broadcasters called for the country to be expelled over its invasion of Ukraine.

This time around, Israeli contestant Eden Golan will be under the spotlight, along with her song, “Hurricane.”

Israel got the green light to compete after agreeing to modify the lyrics of its original song, “October Rain,” which the EBU said made reference to the October 7 Hamas onslaught in Israel.

Organizers face the risk of protests escalating into violence, heightened terror threats in the country, as well as increased tensions with Russia after Sweden's NATO membership.

Police say security will be tighter compared to the last time Sweden hosted the event in 2016.

The contest’s executive producer Ebba Adielsson says her focus is on the visitors coming to Sweden from over 80 countries.

“This is my focus and I really hope that people will feel this and be united by music."

Those visitors will have to pass through airport-like security checks when entering venues.

The contest takes place from May 7 to 11.

STORY: "We are getting closer by the day to a famine situation," said Gian Carlo Cirri, Geneva director of the WFP.

A U.N.-backed report published in March said that famine was imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July. On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the risk of famine in Gaza, especially in the north, was very high.

Cirri was speaking at the launch of a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises, an alliance of humanitarian and development actors including United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the European Union and the United States.

In its report, the network described the 2024 outlook for the Middle East and Africa as extremely concerning due to the Gaza war and restricted humanitarian access, as well as the risk of the conflict spreading elsewhere in the region.

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an aerial and ground offensive against Gaza's ruling Islamist militant group Hamas.

Israel has denied hindering supplies of humanitarian aid and blames aid agencies for inefficiencies in distribution.

STORY: The school canceled in-person classes on Monday (April 22) in response to protesters setting up tent encampments at its New York City campus last week.

Protests at Yale University, Columbia, New York University and other university campuses across the nation began in response to the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, following the deadly cross-border raid by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 and Israel's fierce response in the Gaza enclave controlled by Hamas.

In an email to Columbia staff and students on Monday, Columbia President Nemat Minouche Shafik said the university was canceling in-person classes and moving to online teaching to "deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps."

Last week, Shafik called in New York police to clear a tent encampment protesters had set up on Columbia's main lawn to demand the school divest from Israel-related investments, an unusual move condemned by some faculty.

The school said the encampment violated rules. Police arrested more than 100 students from Columbia on Thursday (April 18) on charges of trespassing. Columbia and the affiliated Barnard College have suspended dozens of students involved in the protests.

STORY: Palestinian authorities reported finding scores of bodies in mass graves at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis this week after it was abandoned by Israeli troops. Bodies were also reported at the Al Shifa site following an Israeli special forces operation.

"We feel the need to raise the alarm because clearly there have been multiple bodies discovered," said Shamdasani, adding Turk said he had been horrified by the reported mass grave discoveries and the hospitals' destruction.

"Some of them had their hands tied, which of course indicates serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and these need to be subjected to further investigations."

She added that the U.N. human rights office was working on corroborating Palestinian officials' reports that 283 bodies were found at Nasser and 30 at Al Shifa.

Gaza's Hamas-run Civil Emergency Service said on Tuesday that a total of 310 bodies had been found at one mass grave at Nasser so far and that two other graves had been identified, but not yet excavated.

Israel's military and its diplomatic mission in Geneva were not immediately available for comment on the Jewish Passover holiday. Israel says Hamas militants use hospitals as bases and that its forces killed around 200 militants at Al Shifa and avoided harming any civilians.

STORY: The police crackdowns came after Columbia University canceled in-person classes on Monday in response to protesters setting up tent encampments at its New York City campus last week.

Demonstrators blocked traffic around Yale's campus in New Haven, Connecticut, demanding the school divest from military weapons manufacturers.  Police arrested more than 45 protesters, according to the student-run Yale Daily News.

In New York, officers moved on the NYU crowd shortly after nightfall as hundreds of demonstrators for hours had defied university warnings that they faced consequences if they failed to vacate a plaza where they had gathered.

Protests at Yale, Columbia, NYU and other university campuses across the nation began in response to the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, following the deadly cross-border raid by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 and Israel's fierce response in the Gaza enclave controlled by Hamas.