Chaos engulfed campuses across the United States as pro-Palestinian student protests spread to universities across the length and breadth of this country. 

A movement which started at Columbia University on the east coast has now spread to the north, south and west.

At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles at least 93 people were arrested during a volatile three-hour standoff between protesters and the police.

One young woman, wearing an Arab scarf, threw a bottle of water at officers and was tackled to the ground before being handcuffed and taken to a waiting police van.

Others, who had formed a protest circle after police issued a dispersal order, were handcuffed one by one and frogmarched off campus by Los Angeles police officers.

The day had started relatively peacefully as hundreds of students gathered on the main lawn on campus.

Police did intervene to remove a number of tents that had been erected, but people holding signs which called for a ceasefire in Gaza soon filled the space.

As classes finished for the day, police issued a dispersal order, telling protesters over a loudspeaker that they had 10 minutes to clear the area or they would be arrested.

A group of at least 50 students remained, linking arms and chanting, “free, free, Palestine”. Some used a black marker pen to scribble on their arms the number of a helpline to call from prison.

“Are you scared of being arrested?” I asked one young woman. “No,” she replied. “I think the children in Gaza are more scared than me.”

I asked another why she feels so passionate about taking a stand on a war unfolding more than seven thousand miles away. “We know that we’re on the right side of this right now,” she said, “and if we’re not going to do this, then who is?”

The students here say they have two core aims. They are demanding that their university cuts all financial ties with Israel and that their country stops sending them weapons.

Amid the peaceful chants are potentially inflammatory songs about the state of Israel.

I asked one young man if he is concerned Jewish students may feel threatened and isolated on their own campus.

“None of the chants or anything that we’ve said is inherently antisemitic,” he said, “nor is the call for the liberation of Palestine inherently antisemitic”.

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As night fell, police here concluded that the best way to end today’s standoff was with more force.

My team watched as an officer pushed one young man to the floor and another woman was pushed back with a police baton.

They may have brought the protests to an end today but there is every chance they will erupt again in the days to come.

A dolphin has been found shot dead on a beach, prompting officials to offer a reward for information.

A member of the public discovered the bottlenose dolphin at the beach near New Orleans, Louisiana, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.

The aquatic mammal was recovered by Audubon Aquarium Rescue, which carried out a necropsy that revealed “multiple bullets lodged in the carcass, including in the brain, spinal cord, and heart”.

“The animal appeared to have died from the trauma, which occurred at or near the time of death,” the NOAA added.

The NOAA is now offering a reward of $20,000 (£16,000) for information leading to a criminal conviction or the assessment of a civil penalty, following the discovery on 13 March.

Harassing, harming, killing, or feeding wild dolphins is prohibited in the US under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

People found to have violated the laws can be prosecuted civilly or criminally, with sentences of up to a year in prison and $100,000 (£80,000) in fines.

Scientists say bottlenose dolphins are highly intelligent, and have been observed to demonstrate self-awareness, problem-solving, empathy, innovation, teaching skills, grief, joy and playfulness.

The drive into the village of Jiljiliya is not what you expect on the West Bank. Imposing mansions line the route, with grand gates and lavish decorations.

That’s because this is where Palestinian Americans return to build their dream homes after years of hard work in the land of opportunity.

Like Omar Assad who came back after 45 years in Milwaukee. But for him, retirement was neither long nor happy. It was cut brutally short one freezing night in January 2022.

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He was returning from a game of cards when he was stopped at a makeshift checkpoint set up by the notorious Israeli army unit, Netzah Yehuda.

The IDF says he did not cooperate so the 78-year-old was detained with force.

Mraweh Mahmoud was with him.

“They took us down from the car and pushed me by the head,” he told Sky News. “The soldier was standing there and put an M16 in my head and said now I’ll shoot you.”

Mr Assad was tied up, gagged and blindfolded, Mr Mahmoud said, and forced to lie next to him. When the soldiers eventually left Mr Mahmoud realised Mr Assad was dead.

“I took his jacket off his head, I checked there’s no pulse, I shouted Omar, Omar,” he said.

Palestinian doctors say Mr Assad died in freezing temperatures of a stress-induced heart attack. An Israeli military report condemned the soldiers’ “moral failure and poor decision-making”.

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No link between death and soldiers’ errors, military prosecutors say

Netzah Yehuda’s battalion commander was reprimanded and two officers were dismissed but Israeli military prosecutors decided against pursuing criminal charges because they said there was no link between the errors made by soldiers and Mr Assad’s death.

But now the unit the soldiers came from is expected to be singled out by the US government and cut off from American funding, in the first-ever such move against any part of the Israeli military.

Reports claim the US State Department will apply the so-called Leahy Law against the unit, which prohibits US assistance to foreign military units guilty of gross human rights violations when their government fails to take sufficient action.

Why has Netzah Yehuda become infamous?

The Netzah Yehuda battalion was set up to help ultra-orthodox Jews serve in the army. It mixes religion and soldiering. But in its ranks are also elements of extremist settler groups.

It has become infamous, implicated in one case of alleged abuse of Palestinians after another, many of which its soldiers have filmed on their own phones. Its soldiers have been prosecuted for human rights violations and accused of unlawful killings, electrocution, torture and sexual assault.

Israel’s government has fought a rearguard action against the looming US action.

Its prime minister called the prospect absurd and its defence minister Yoav Galant showed solidarity with the battalion’s soldiers this week saying “no one in the world can teach us about morals and values”.

But one organisation of ex-soldiers opposed to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories says the Israeli government knows this could be just the beginning of action against its military.

‘They’re terrified of the possible results’

Ori Givati from the NGO Breaking the Silence told Sky News: “They understand that this might open the Pandora’s box of what the occupation really is, and how it looks like to occupy millions with the military.

“And if that Pandora’s box will be opened and it is starting to open in recent months, I think they’re terrified of the possible results because they want to continue to occupy.”

Back in Jilijilya, Mr Assad’s family welcomes reports America will act against the soldiers they blame for his death but say that’s not enough – they want them brought to justice too.

Nazmia, Mr Assad’s widow, said: “God willing it will be good if they do this, but also punish them like what they did with him, arrest them and fire them from their positions.”