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s america. s clearing out the ucla as president biden urges peaceful protest. pres. biden: violent protest is not protected. peaceful protest is. it is against the law when violence occurs. destroying property is not peaceful protest. >> i am at the ucla campus, where we saw police move in before dawn and detained over 100 protesters. >> gaza civilians continued to face starvation and dysplasia in. we will speak to an aid worker about humanitarian needs and access on the ground.

>> hello, welcome to world news america. i am caitriona perry. another violent confrontation on a u.s. college campus as police cleared a campus of the university of california in los angeles, declaring protest and unlawful assembly. police brought down barricades, underwriting hundreds of people staying in tents to move or be arrested. officers used flashbangs, otherwise known as stun grenades, after some resisted. police reported no serious injuries among officers or protesters. officers arrested more than 100 people. the crackdown on antiwar protesters by the lapd unfolded just one day after those same demonstrators were attacked by pro-israel outside agitators. here is one student protester's analysis with the sound of

police flashbangs in the background. >> it is galling for protesters because less than 24 hours ago the protesters in this encampment were attacked by more than 200 unidentified counter protesters who showed up in the middle of the night and assaulted the encampment for seven hours, and the police did not show up for the first three or four. when they did they sat around and watched for another hour and a half.for them to come out the next night to remove us from the encampment after they felt absolutely no obligation or duty to protect us the first night, it doesn't make any sense but it also makes all of the sense in the world. i'm not surprised. >> in his first direct remarks about the university protests in 10 days, u.s. president joe biden did not mention ucla or any school by name. he denounced anti-semitism and islamophobia and said that as president it was his

constitutional duty to defend both free-speech and the rule of law. pres. biden: we are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent. the american people are heard. in fact, peaceful protest is a tradition on how americans respond to consequence resolutions. but neither are we a lawless country. we are a civil society and order must prevail. it is basically a matter of fairness, it is a matter of what is right. it is the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos. people have a right to get an education, to get a degree, the right to walk across campus safely without fearing being attacked. >> the president has been under immense pressure from young voters to change his stance supporting israel's offense in gaza. president biden said the protists have not made him reconsider his middle east policies.

let's go to our correspondent at ucla. helena, what is the scene like today? >> katrina, what a difference a few hours make. we were here before dawn as we saw the police move into the area which was the encampment. you can see a vastly different picture. we were not even able to see this area because it was cordoned off by those reinforced barricades, which had been set up by the pro-palestinian demonstrators on campus. what you can see now is diggers which have been used to finally clear away the last of those reinforcements. the plywood. more people coming onto the campus to very swiftly clear up the remaining trash, the remaining debris. on either side you can see the historic campus buildings, including the royce hall building, the library which has been barricaded. there we are starting to be able

to see some of the remaining signs of graffiti, with words such as "free gaza" free palestine" and so on. a vastly different picture than when we saw authorities rushing, taking away, taking down, dismantling that barricade. scenes of commotion, stun grenades used. we understand about 200 people were detained. today, a quiet campus. the feeling that campus life here has been appended. we know that classes are remaining online today and it does feel very, very quiet compared to what we saw yesterday. katrina: helena, what does this mean for the protest movement? what comes next? >> it is such an important question. i think the sense across the country as protests continue to grow is that we could likely see more scenes like the one we saw in the early hours.

that it was just a flashpoint. some of the people detained last night have been released and charged with misdemeanors but are saying that they are unhappy with how this unfolded and they should have been able to remain in the encampment and protest despite the fact that the university says that that was an unlawful encampment. other members of the faculty were joining in those protests. one professor said that he was speaking to other members of the faculty and they were considering in the light of the violence we saw on tuesday how they would proceed considering work stoppages, not grading classwork for example, to continue the protest. i think the sense is quiet for now, but the discontent has not been quelled. katrina: thank you. those student protests have taken hold nationwide over the last week. the associated press estimates more than 2000 people have been

arrested in connection with protests on college campuses. arrests have been made at 36 schools according to the ap tally. in the latest developments police in portland, oregon have cleared activists and made a dozen arrests they had occupied a library at portland state university for several days. 29 people were arrested at a university in new york early thursday morning. new york's police department says that officers arrested 282 people on tuesday night during those raids at the city college of new york and columbia university. police say that many of those arrested are aged 22 and above, of course older than the typical undergraduate student. in dallas at the university of texas, police arrested at least 17 people at an encampment. tom bateman sent this report from collin county jail in texas where some of those protesters are being held. >> this is the detention facility.

you can see how the protest has moved from the campus to this particular site or the protesters say that 21 demonstrators were detained by the police yesterday. i was chatting with one of them here who says that three people have been released so far today. they are being held on criminal trespass charges according to protesters. these are similar scenes that we saw in austin earlier this week after protest encampment was pulled away by the state troopers. we saw the protest effectively each shift to the jail. here they are saying that these are political prisoners and want to live all released they are accusing the texas authorities of racism in the way they are targeted the protest. it is a clear example in the way that the tension on the state on the campus protests, the way it was done, the way the troopers moved in, ineffectively shifted the locations of some of these antiwar protests, but added to

their intensity. what we saw yesterday was a peaceful protest that was broken up with the encampment removed by riot police. that added to the energy of the protests. they moved on to a different part of the campus and now they have spread here with more attention focused on the authorities. you are seeing a shift in dynamics because of the way that the authorities in texas are targeting the protest encampments. katrina: let's talk about all of this with rob one holt, a former police officer and foreign affairs director with the baltimore police department. thank you for joining us. we have seen 2000 or so people arrested at these protests over the last few days. first of all, what is or is not allowed when one considers the right to protest in this country? --

sorry, we had an issue with the sound. could you answer that question again so that we get your wise words? what is and is not allowed? >> what is allowed is freedom of speech and also the right to assemble. what is not allowed and pushes things towards chaos and intimidation and breaking the law up to assault. the first goal of leadership is to provide a place to live, work, raise a family, go to school. university presidents and local and federal law enforcement are certainly charged with that. we have seen universities and colleges across the country who have fallen into crisis, cost time, money, and consumer confidence and in the worst case scenarios lives. so far these scenarios on campuses. katrina: is there a sort of series of steps to take when one

considers calling the police into a protest on campus? many of those involved would not be used to seeing police officers in riot gear so up close. rob: i think that it's important to involve public safety from the beginning. if you have a protest of some sort, an activist and even outside agitators making their way to campus, it is important for leaders to communicate and coordinate with those activating points of view so they can be validated, and do things like effective crowd management, having places for people to go to be heard and assembled. do everything we can do de-escalate and make sure it doesn't lead to an overwhelming situation where violence and arrests have to occur through the use of force mechanisms.it is important to involve public safety officials from the very beginning so that they can affect the planning process and prevent people from getting hurt. at the end of the day it is

about making sure that everyone is ok and has the right to be heard. katrina: we saw situation on the ucla campus tuesday night where what had been a peaceful protest, outside agitators arrived and there was a level of violence. we heard complaints about how long it took for the police to get involved. what is your view? rob: it is hard to pull back on exactly why the police took time to engage, so to speak, but there is open communication that needs to occur with university officials and, as many would say, strike the balance between freedom of speech and rule of law. one thing law enforcement agencies make sure that they are responsive as possible. law enforcement have a really difficult job in these types of situations, because it is very visual and much of the unrest and activism is being carried on

live tv. it is often violent and goes viral. every movement that law enforcement agencies make during this time, under critical scrutiny. the men and women that i have seen wearing a badge and carrying a gun have shown tremendous restraint and have been very effective at de-escalating some of these issues that have occurred across university campuses despite varying opinions. katrina: briefly on that point, our policing guidelines for managing civil disobedience current? or do they need to be reviewed bearing in mind the change of circumstances you just described? rob: every situation is different. a university setting or a rural setting, one thing i can say is i think a lot of law enforcement agencies do a good job of trying to plan effectively. it is not just law enforcement, it is university officials,

parents, the government agencies, and everyone needs to come together to make sure to strike a balance between what is allowed by law and making sure that no one feels victimized, threatened, intimidated, or is assaulted in some way, shape, or form because that is not acceptable. those who are arrested must be held accountable, not just for the people who are victimized but also to send a message loud and clear that this will not be tolerated in an unlawful manner. katrina: crisis leadership expert and former baltimore police department expert, thank you for joining us. the protesters in the u.s. say that they want universities to divest, withdraw investments, from companies with ties to israel and draw attention to the ongoing war in gaza. in the latest effort to make progress on cease fire talks hamas is sending a delegation to egypt. they continue to demand that israel pull all of its forces from gaza and halt all fighting. officials say that hamas wants

language in the agreement that guarantees israel's full withdrawal. the deal crafted by mediators would allow for the release of 33 hostages in exchange for a pause in the fighting. palestinian fighters would also be released. preparing the destruction in gaza could cost $40 billion. more than half of the gaza population of 2.3 million forced into rafah, while hundreds of thousands of civilians are on the brink of famine. the erez crossing is open serving as a channel for humanitarian supplies to those in need. eight agencies are concerned that traffic at the checkpoint could delay the arrival of food and urgent supplies. the u.s. says that recent attacks on aid convoys by israeli settlers and hamas are unacceptable. to talk about this now i am joined by the gaza and west bank

director for the international aid agency. you are on a brief trip to the u.s. from the west bank. thank you for joining us. we have seen the protesters drawing attention to the situation in gaza. what is the situation like there now? has the slight increase in aid made any difference? >> thank you for this question. there is a small increase in aid entering into gaza. you can imagine over several months the needs were piling up so it was increasing on the top of the hour, by the hour. what is entering gaza isn't enough in terms of immediately responding to the of rising needs. for instance, we have seen that there are acute malnutrition cases with children and this would require longer-term consistent intervention with certain nutritious components. we are so afraid that if this is not going to happen rapidly and consistently it will not make a

huge difference. katrina: the bombing attacks continue in gaza and people are injured and killed daily. what is the medical situation like? hiba: over the last month, since the second month of the work, we are in the seventh, unfortunately we started to see parts of the medical services system collapsing. it is now the last bare minimum of the service centers that are available and are partially working. the amount of services that they are providing are decreasing constantly. because of the lack of medication, lack of equipment, lack of fuel for generators, the lack of medical staff to be able to continuously provide the services, and this is unfortunately leading to more profound negative impacts on the population. katrina: at care international you have had 35 trucks cross in.

we have heard from the idf and the israeli officials that they say that hamas are stopping some aid trucks and taking some of the fuel and supplies for themselves. have you seen evidence of that in your experience? hiba: we were lucky to have all of our trucks entering into gaza and able to distribute them immediately. normally we account for receiving the trucks and directly distributing them. we were so lucky not to have any kind of loss of aid that is entering into gaza. i can confirm that those who would face issues in aid into gaza definitely would have raised concerns with the different actors, but i cannot confirm it from care. katrina: we saw several aid workers killed when the idf targeted their vehicles they say mistakenly. they thought other people were in the vehicles, but nevertheless they were branded as aid workers.

have you had to change your approach for your team in gaza? hiba: yes, many times. this is the most critical point for us to make sure the safety and security of our staff is guaranteed. unfortunately, we cannot guarantee it. we changed our approach. we continue to share information related to where we are, what the number of trucks we are receiving, the delivery point, the expected time of distribution, but of course it has influenced what happened with our kitchen colleagues, it influenced our intervention. we try our best to coordinate with different actors in the same locations and work through our partners so that we can avoid as much as possible to movements in between locations. katrina: all hopes are resting on a cease-fire deal at the moment. we have heard from prime minister netanyahu that the incursion into rafah will happen with or without a deal.

what will that mean for rafa? hiba: this is the worst scenario that we can think of. the number of people who are moving as you have shown in the different clips on bbc is becoming massive. any intervention according to the estimations of agencies would require 10 days to evacuate the people from rafah. we know that we won't have these 10 days. this means that the applications might be massive in terms of the crowds of people who might be affected, unfortunately. katrina: we will leave it there for the moment. hiba tini from care international, thank you for joining us. civilians in these occupied west bank have faced violence. isabel young, josh baker, and sarah have uncovered new evidence about the killing of

two boys by the israeli army. isabel young has more on this. you may find some images in her report distressing. isabel: a 15-year-old and 8-year-old were killed by israeli forces on the west bank. our team in collaboration with bbc verify have been piecing together what happened to them. we have been able to collect cctv and mobile phone footage, witness testimony, and information about the movements of the military that day to create a timeline of those shootings. in the afternoon, a convoy of at least six israeli armored vehicles were returning from a nearby raid. we tracked their routes which took them past the street where they were. the two boys and seven friends were on the streets. cctv footage from a shop shows basil holding something in his right hand making a movement with it with his left hand towards it. you can see him shot and falling

backwards. more bullets hit the ground near him. video from another angle shows 8-year-old adam further down the street from basil shot in the back of the head as he is trying to run away. he also falls forwards and is dragged behind a car. we were also able to obtain another crucial video of this instant, which is a nearby boy filming on his phone at the time who was able to capture one of the israeli military vehicles driving by. when the footage is slowed down and enhanced it shows the drivers door opening. you can see that here. the driver has a direct view of those boys, around 24 meters from basil and 46 meters from adam. we know that at least 11 shots were fired from the direction of

the armored vehicle, because we examined the bullet strikes at the scene. we have also gotten hold of copies of basil and adam's medical reports who show us that two bullets struck basil's chest and another hit adam in the back of the head. the rules around when soldiers can and cannot use lethal force in the west bank are secret but some rules that apply elsewhere are public. guidelines of the israeli defense forces state that the use of lethal force must be a last resort and proportionate in relation to the danger, suggesting that basil and adam would have needed to pose a serious threat to the soldiers. according to all of the video evidence that we have examined, 8-year-old adam was not armed when he was shot in the back of his head. that the suspects had been attempting to hurl explosives towards their vehicles putting them in immediate danger. they also shared this picture with us that they say shows an

explosive device lying on the ground close to where basil was shot. the object looks consistent with a type of very small pipe bomb used in the west bank, but we cannot fully verify the image itself. we have shown our findings to international human rights experts. the codirector for the center of international law tells us that the soldiers were in armored vehicles. even if they were a threat should have driven away and planned an arrest instead of defaulting to indiscriminate lethal force, a violation of international law. we have been told that while there may be questions about the use of lethal force in basil's case, the killing of adam and his view appears to be a war crime. katrina: remember, you can find more about all of the day's news on our website bbc.com/news. i am caitriona perry. thank you for watching.

announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

>> good evening. >> on the newshour tonight, police forcefully breakup the ucla encampment as arrests and protests against the war in gaza spread to more college campuses