The New York police department announced on Tuesday it was investigating an alleged chemical attack on students protesting in support of Palestine on Columbia University’s campus last week.

Students protesting Israel’s bombardment of Gaza – which has killed more than 25,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials – reported being sprayed with a chemical that left many with symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, headaches and irritated eyes.

NYPD is investigating claims that the chemical unleashed on these students is “skunk”, an agent developed in Israel and used as a crowd control weapon, most commonly in the occupied West Bank.

A police spokesperson said that the first victim who filed a report said she “smelled an unknown odor and began to feel nauseated and experienced a burning sensation in her eyes”.

In a letter to students and facultysent on Monday, Columbia’s interim provost, Dennis Mitchell, wrote: “A deeply troubling incident occurred on the steps of Low Library on Friday.

In November, the college banned two pro-Palestinian organizations, SJP and Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), for allegedly violating campus procedures by holding “unauthorized” events.

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