New York police intervene on the campus of Columbia University

The essential

• New York Police officers in riot gear entered Hamilton Hall on Tuesday evening, where pro-Palestinian students had been barricaded since last night. It was at the request of the president of Columbia University that the police moved in force. In a statement, the university asked the New York Police Department to maintain a presence on campus until May 17.

• UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths has warned that despite international calls for Israel to spare Rafah in the Gaza Strip, “a ground operation is imminent”. He said the operation would be “an unspeakable tragedy.”

• The US military is expected to complete the construction of a temporary pier on the Gaza coast on Thursday to allow more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the besieged Palestinian territory, the president of Cyprus announced on Tuesday.

• The mediating countries are meanwhile awaiting a response from Hamas to a proposed 40-day truce associated with the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip. For its part, Israel will wait “until Wednesday evening” for a response from Hamas to the truce offer under discussion in Cairo before making a decision on sending a delegation there, an Israeli official said. AFP.

• The Hamas Ministry of Health announced a new death toll of 34,535 in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7.

• A ceasefire proposal in the Gaza Strip has been presented to Hamas, providing for a cessation of hostilities for 40 days combined with the release of hostages and prisoners, the British Foreign Secretary said on Monday in Riyadh, David Cameron. A source close to the movement told AFP that the Hamas delegation had left Egypt for Doha and that a response would be given “as quickly as possible”.

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Saudi Arabia, the first stop on a Middle East tour designed to promote a truce between Israel and Hamas and the entry of more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

• After Saudi Arabia and Jordan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel, as part of a new tour of the Middle East intended to promote a new truce in the Palestinian territory. He called on Hamas to accept the truce proposal “without further delay”.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that the Israeli army will enter Rafah whether or not a tentative truce deal is reached with Hamas.