BELGRADE, Serbia

Students at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia on Thursday joined the worldwide protests against the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Carrying Palestinian flags and banners with pro-Palestinian slogans, “Palestine is Standing up for Humanity”, the students of the Faculty of Social Sciences occupied the lecture hall at the university.

The students called on their university to end its cooperation with Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

Students chanted slogans such as "Palestine will be free" and "Free Palestine from the river to sea" and held banners, saying "Stop the genocide" and "Sanctions against Israel."

Meanwhile, Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon announced on Thursday that the process of recognizing Palestine has begun.

The Israeli army on Tuesday seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt, a vital route for humanitarian aid into the besieged territory.

On Monday, Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for Palestinians in eastern Rafah, a move widely seen as a prelude to Israel's long-feared attack on the city, home to some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.

Israel has killed more than 34,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured over 78,500 others following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7, which claimed 1,200 lives.

Over seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.