Daily SumUp

It was an invitation from a classmate 15 years ago that changed the life of Badar Khan Suri, an Indian scholar now facing deportation from the US over accusations he is linked to a Hamas member.

On that summer evening, Mr Suri had been sitting outside his department at Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia university when a classmate announced that an international aid convoy was set to go to Gaza - the Palestinian territory run by the armed Islamist group Hamas and under blockade by Israel.

To students of conflict studies, the caravan - of more than 150 people from several Asian countries - offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness one of the world's most contentious disputes up close.