Cambridge pro-Palestine camp continues activities as 100-day milestone approaches
While the pro-Palestine camp on King’s Parade is preparing for the 100 days of protest milestone on August 14, life at the camp continues with a round-the-clock vigil.
The flower garden the protesters have set up is now blooming, with the tourist season in full swing along the iconic Cambridge street.
The campaigners, who will disband the camp later this month after reaching a series of agreements with the University of Cambridge - as reported in the Cambridge Independent - continue low-key engagements throughout the day.
In the evening the group holds a news briefing, followed by a discussion group. While the Cambridge Independent was not invited to the discussion session, the news update was open to allow the inclusion of a written report. Photographs of the group were not encouraged.
The 10-minute briefing reported to the group on events taking place in Gaza, followed by a minute’s silence and then the internal session.
“On day 300 in Gaza [since the Israeli army began military activities in the Palestinian strip] there are many people trapped under the rubble of a school sheltering displaced Palestinians,” the news conference lead told the gathering of 15 students.
At least 30 people sheltering at a girls’ school in the Gazan city of Deir Al-Balah were killed after a strike that Israel’s military said targeted Hamas militants’ operations, PA has reported.
“To the south Israel fired at a mosque [at Nasirat Refugee Camp],” continued the news update on King’s Parade. “A 17-year-old boy was killed while riding a bicycle to collect food [in an Israeli drone strike in Balata refugee camp, near Nablus]. After at least 25 Palestinians were killed in an assault on a tent camp in al-Mawasi, a journalist who survived said ‘the death camp has turned into a death zone’. There have been more than 3,400 Israeli attack in the Gaza in the last 300 days. The death toll today stands at 40,074 Palestinians killed in attacks.
“The Ministry [the Gaza Health Ministry, officially the Palestinian Ministry of Health] reports 790 hectares of land in the West Bank is now being used as illegal Israeli settlements.
“Israel says the war has entered a new phase following the strikes against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
“Iran’s leadership is saying prayers for the Hamas political leader [Ismail Haniyeh] in Tehran.”
Israel has yet to confirm that it killed the Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
“We will now hold one minute’s silence for all those killed in the ongoing operations.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week urged actors in the Middle East to “avoid miscalculation” as he visited Lebanon in an effort to prevent escalation of tensions. The Foreign Secretary and his Cabinet colleague also visited Qatar on Wednesday to call for de-escalation of the fighting and to press for an end to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The University of Cambridge was approached for comment.
