58 Killed in Gaza Protests as U.S. Embassy Opens in Jerusalem

Trans Asia News

Gaza: Defying global outcry, the United States officially moved its embassy to Jerusalem on Monday provoking massive outrage across occupied Palestine. Tens of thousands made a mass attempt to cross the border fence in Gaza and Israeli soldiers responded with live fire killing at least 52 protestors and injuring more than two thousand, many of them critically. 

Reports said Monday was the bloodiest single day since the campaign of demonstrations began seven weeks ago, to protest Israel's suffocating blockade of Gaza.

It was also the deadliest day there since a devastating 2014 Gaza war and cast a shadow over Israel's festive inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem Al Quds.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians took part in the Gaza protests, which spread on Monday to the West Bank, where the focus was on opposition to the embassy move.

By 7 p.m., 58 Palestinians, including several teenagers, were dead and at least 2400 were injured in Gaza, the Health Ministry said. Israeli soldiers and snipers used barrages of tear gas as well as live gunfire to keep protesters from breaking the siege.

In a show of anger fuelled by the embassy move, protesters set tires on fire, sending plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled stones toward Israeli troops across the fence. Live TV footage showed Israeli forces also firing from tanks, sending protesters fleeing to take cover.

The protests erupted a day ahead of the annual commemorations of the Nakba, or "catastrophe", when the Zionist state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, in a violent campaign that led to the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

Throughout the day, sirens wailed as the wounded were carried to nearby ambulances.

Calling for blood donations hospitals in Gaza said 52 people were killed and 2400 others were wounded during the day.

Of those killed, the ministry of health said at least six are below 18, including one female. Of those wounded, at least 200 are below the age of 18; seventy-eight are women and 11 are journalists. 

Israeli forces have killed at least 90 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded close to 10,500 people since the current wave of protests began on March 30. 

Israel condemned over Gaza 'bloodbath' 

Amnesty International has called the Israeli violence in Gaza "an abhorrent violation of international law & human rights." 

In an earlier statement, the United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said it was "gravely concerned" that many of those killed or injured during weeks of protests were reportedly posing no imminent threat when they were shot.

US embassy opens in Jerusalem sparking Palestinian protests

The statement, dated 8 May but published by the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, also called on Israel to "fully respect the norms of humanitarian law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and to lift the blockade of the Gaza strip".

It called on Israel to "put an immediate end to the disproportionate use of force against Palestinian demonstrators in the Gaza strip, refrain from any act that could lead to further casualties and ensure prompt and unimpeded access to medical treatment to injured Palestinians".

PROTESTORS BLAMED

At the embassy ceremony in Jerusalem, Trump son-in-law and chief Mideast adviser Jared Kushner placed the blame of bloodshed on the Palestinian protesters.

"As we have seen from the protests of the last month and even today those provoking violence are part of the problem and not part of the solution," he said.

Kushner and Trump daughter Ivanka led a high-powered American delegation that also included several Congress members.

The timing of Monday's events was deeply symbolic to Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.S. said it chose the date to coincide with the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment.

President Donald Trump said in a video message played at the embassy inauguration -- which took place just 45 miles from the bloodshed on the Gaza border -- that he remains committed to "facilitating a lasting peace agreement" between Israelis and Palestinians.

"A great day for Israel!" Trump tweeted earlier Monday.

At the ceremony Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel sounded more triumphant and defiant than conciliatory.

"What a glorious day," Mr. Netanyahu exulted. "Remember this moment! This is history! President Trump, by recognizing history, you have made history."

"We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay," he said. "We are here in Jerusalem protected by the great soldiers of the army of Israel and our brave soldiers are protecting the border of Israel as we speak today."

NAKBA 

Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests against Israel will continue "until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved."

"Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem will be a disaster for the American administration and a black day in the history of the American people because they are partners with the occupation and its aggression against the Palestinian people," he added.

May 15 marks the anniversary of what Palestinians call their "nakba," or catastrophe, a reference to the uprooting of hundreds of thousands who were expelled during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation.

A majority of Gaza's 2 million people are descendants of refugees, and the protests have been billed as the "Great March of Return" to long-lost homes in what is now Israel.

Huge demonstrations are expected to mark the May 15 event, which brings to a close the six-week Great March of Return demonstrations. It is celebrated among Israelis as Independence Day.

Israeli military dropped leaflets warning people in Gaza to stay away from the security fence ahead of new protests. Demonstrators in North Gaza brought down an IDF drone that was allegedly dropping fire bombs on tents, according to the Great Return March movement.