NYC Israel-Hamas War Conflicts Spill Across City: Here's What To Know

NEW YORK CITY — Tensions from the Israel-Hamas conflict boiled over in New York City as violence erupted, protests grew and authorities prepared for mass unrest.

A surge of NYPD officers will blanket the city Friday after a former Hamas leader called for worldwide protests in support of Palestinians that day, said Mayor Eric Adams during a security briefing.

Adams said the surge — which will include officers sent to schools and houses of worship, as well as patrol in unspecified "key neighborhoods" — is purely precautionary.

"I want all New Yorkers, especially Jewish New Yorkers and other groups, to know there are currently no credible or specific threats against our city," he said.

"If New Yorkers see something, we’re saying to you to do something by reaching out to your local authorities."

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Security Fears Grow In NYC As Israel-Hamas Conflict Rages

The briefing Thursday evening was meant to reassure a diverse city on edge amid the heart-rending conflict in Israel.

The death toll from Hamas' devastating attack over the weekend has reached 1,200 people, most of whom were unarmed Israeli civilians, according to Israeli government officials. An estimated 150 Israelis were also taken hostage by Hamas fighters, according to reports.

In response, over 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israeli bomb strikes following the Hamas attack, according to the Gazan Health Ministry. Water and electricity in Gaza have been cut off by Israel, and over 300,000 Palestinians have been made homeless as a result of the Israeli campaign so far, according to the New York Times.

New York City has seen days of dueling pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protests since the Hamas attacks. But city dwellers Thursday learned that potential hate crimes — notably an assault on an Israeli student and the beating of a Palestinian teen — had recently occurred in the city.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, who appeared during the briefing with Adams, said the state has "zero tolerance" for hate directed at Palestinian New Yorkers, implicitly drawing a distinction between everyday Palestinians and the actions of Hamas.

She also pledged support for Jewish people.

"We will stand in solidarity with our Jewish friends and neighbors today, tomorrow and every day," she said. "There is no call to violence that will shake that conviction."

Thursday's events hinted that tensions and divisions could continue. Here is some of what happened.

'Absolute madness' at Brooklyn College

A tense pro-Palestinian rally at Brooklyn College sparked "absolute madness."

Helicopters hovered over the CUNY campus, police swirled a mass of protesters and counterprotesters as the rally itself was moved outside the college's confines.

"From New York to Palestine, occupation is a crime," students could be heard chanting at Thursdays rally.

The so-called madness extended to outside the rally itself, as CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez condemned it as celebrating or supporting Hamas.

But many students took issue, calling Rodríguez a hypocrite.

"Brooklyn College has never expressed support for its Palestinian students yet alone for Palestine when time and time again it was subjugated to numerous documented war crimes," a conglomeration of CUNY student groups supporting Palestinian liberation said in a statement.

Read our coverage:

Pro-Palestine Rally At Brooklyn College Sparks 'Absolute Madness'

Israeli student attacked at Columbia University, campus closes to non-students

Only Columbia University students were allowed to walk onto the school's Morningside Heights campus amid heightened security concerns Thursday.

The restriction followed an Israeli student being attacked with a stick and came before a planned pro-Palestinian protest that afternoon.

The student — a 24-year-old man — had been hanging up posters with names and photos of Israeli hostages reportedly taken by Hamas. He got into an argument with a 19-year-old woman from Brooklyn who began ripping the posters off the wall and then hit him in the hand with a stick, according to police and reports.

The tensions led to twin pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protests literally divided between two lawns on the campus.

Read our coverage:

• 2 Protests, One War: Israel-Hamas Conflict Reaches Columbia U [PHOTOS]
• Columbia University Access Restricted Amid Israel-Hamas War Protests
• Israeli Columbia Student Assaulted With Stick On Campus: NYPD, Report

Uptown mother grieves daughter killed by Hamas

An Upper East Side mother lost her daughter during the shocking weekend attack by Hamas militants in Israel, according to reports.

"Part of me died with her," Hannie Richardo, 58, told the Daily News on Wednesday.

Her daughter, Oriya, who lived near Tel Aviv, was one of the over 250 people massacred at a music festival near the border with Gaza.

Oriya worked at an insurance firm in Israel and never lived in New York, Richardo told the paper, but she did visit her mother.

Read our coverage:

Upper East Side Mom Grieves Daughter Killed In Hamas Attack: Report

'Everybody hates everybody'

A Pro-Palestinian rally at Hunter College drew more than 100 supporters — and a fair amount of bile on all sides.

"Everybody hates everybody," was the assessment of one Upper East Sider.

The protest — which called for a "struggle" against Zionism, apartheid and racism — unfolded just around the corner from a row of taped flyers on an East 68th Street construction fence showed the faces of Israeli victims kidnapped during the Hamas attack over the weekend.

Read our coverage:

Pro-Palestine Rally At Hunter College Draws Over 100 Protesters

Patch writers Emily Rahhal, Nicole Rosenthal and Peter Senzamici contributed to this report.