Trinity College Dublin has yielded to demands by student protesters that it cut ties with Israeli companies active in occupied Palestinian territory.

Pro-Palestinian students had been camped in the Irish university for nearly a week to demand their college divest amid the war in Gaza.

The protests, which were similar to those at Oxford and Cambridge, and in the US and Europe, resulted in the public being kept out of the campus and away from the famous Book of Kells exhibition.

Trinity was forced to issue refunds for the exhibition, which brought in nearly £15 million in funding for the college in 2022.

It also waived a fine of more than £170,000 imposed on the students union for previous protests, as part of the deal with the student-led Trinity Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) group, which was struck on Wednesday afternoon.

László Molnárfi, the students’ union president, told the Irish Independent: “The agreement is that Trinity College Dublin will work towards complete divestment from Israel.”

The protestors had also demanded that Trinity cut all academic ties with Israel.

Trinity confirmed the end of the blockade after “successful talks between university’s senior management and the protesters”.

It said that by next month it would divest from three Israeli companies listed by the UN as being active in occupied Palestinian territory. Owing to contractual reasons, however, it will keep ties with another Israeli company until March 2025.

Trinity will also provide eight free places for students from Gaza to continue their education.

“We fully understand the driving force behind the encampment on our campus and we are in solidarity with the students in our horror at what is happening in Gaza,” it said.

“Trinity will continue to engage with all students and staff who are impacted by these issues,” it  added.

In other universities in the US and the Netherlands, the protests have been ended by police in violent scenes.