Gaza live: Israel war cabinet to discuss truce deal negotiations

A Hamas delegation is set to visit Egypt soon for further truce talks, according to a statement from the Palestinian group on Thursday.

The statement said that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh affirmed the group's "positive spirit in studying the ceasefire proposal".

Over the weekend, Hamas said it  had received Israel's latest position and would study it before submitting a reply.

Students at the University of Toronto in Canada havae launched an encampment in solidarity with Palestinians on Thursday, according to campaign group Toronto4Palestine. 

Sciences Po university in the French capital has rejected demands by protesters to set up a working group to review its relations with Israeli universities, according to interim director Jean Basseres.

Basseres spoke to reporters following a townhall with students and staff.

"I'm calling on all to show a sense of responsibility," he said, urging protesters to allow exams to go on, and stating that the university would figure out how best to organise internal debates on major topics.

"The last ties that should be severed are the ones between universities," said Arancha Gonzalez, head of Science Po's School of International Affairs, adding that the university had existing rules on reviewing partnerships.

Students at several French universities, including Sciences Po Paris, Sciences Po Lille and Lille's journalism school, have held protests or encampments in solidarity with Palestinians. 

On Monday, French police forcefully cleared a protest encampment at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Rebuilding homes in the Gaza Strip could drag into the next century if the pace follows that of previous conflicts, according to a report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) released on Thursday.

The UNDP says Gaza needs "approximately 80 years to restore all the fully destroyed housing units".

However, a best case scenario in which construction materials are delivered five times faster, as they were following the conflict in 2021, could have reconstruction complete by 2040.

"Unprecedented levels of human losses, capital destruction, and the steep rise in poverty in such a short period of time will precipitate a serious development crisis that jeopardises the future of generations to come," UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said in a statement.

The report says that should the war last for nine months, poverty in Gaza is set to increase from 38.8% to 60.7% of the enclave's population.

Hundreds of riot police descended on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) late on Wednesday in preparation to clear out a pro-Palestine encampment that was attacked the night before by Israel supporters.

Police began forming lines near the encampment and warned protesters over loudspeakers that anyone who refused to leave could face arrest.

The Daily Bruin reported that officers in tactical gear had entered the Palestine solidarity encampment at Dickson Plaza "with batons out".

Some protesters were seen donning hard hats, goggles and respirator masks in anticipation of the raid a day after the university declared the encampment unlawful.

READ MORE: Riot police descend on pro-Palestine encampment after students refuse to disperse

Yemen's Sanaa University said it has opened its door to students and academics who have been expelled from American and European universities due to their participation in on-campus pro-Palestine protests.

The University Council also saluted the position taken by pro-Palestine protesters in universities across the world.