US embassy in Jerusalem opens amid Palestinian protests
WEB DESK
Dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces as they were taking out in mass protests on the Gaza border as the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem today.
According to Reuter, Israeli gunfire killed at least 43 Palestinians, the highest toll in a single day since a series of protests demanding the right to return to ancestral homes in Israel began on March 30.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the dead included six children under the age of 18. Ministry officials said about 2,400 Palestinians were wounded, half of them by live bullets.
Protesters have clashed with Israeli security forces in Gaza and the West Bank. Local medical workers say more than 40 people were killed and hundreds wounded by gunfire.
Palestinians have been demonstrating in the Gaza Strip since late March, demanding the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees.
The Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths all have holy sites in the city. The Israelis control Jerusalem and consider it their capital, although that claim is not recognized by the international community.
France and Britain called on Israel to show restraint and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” by the events in Gaza.
At the embassy inauguration ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump for “having the courage to keep your promises”.
“What a glorious day for Israel,” Netanyahu said in a speech. “We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay.”
Trump, in a recorded message, said he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He was represented at the ceremony by his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, U.S. envoy to the Middle East.
Kushner said it was possible for both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to gain more than give in any peace deal.
“Jerusalem must remain a city that brings people of all faiths together,” he said in a speech.
The U.S. decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv was desire of President Donald Trump, who has recognised the holy city as the Israeli capital, but it has fired Palestinian anger and drawn criticism from many foreign governments as a setback to peace efforts.
As the ceremony took place in Jerusalem, Palestinian protests on the Gaza border quickly turned into bloodshed
Other responses to the violence were stronger. Regional power Turkey accused Israeli security forces of carrying out a massacre and said the U.S. Embassy move had encouraged them.
The non-government international organisation Human Rights Watch said: “The policy of Israeli authorities to fire irrespective of whether there is an immediate threat to life on Palestinian demonstrators in Gaza, caged in for a decade and under occupation for a half century, has resulted in a bloodbath that anyone could have foreseen.”
