At least 41 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded in protests at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel on the same day the US fulfils its controversial promise to move its embassy to the contested city of Jerusalem.

Thousands of demonstrators set fire to tyres on Monday, sending thick plumes of smoke into the air to deter Israeli snipers. The Israeli military said the protests were being used as cover for attacks on soldiers.

It is the deadliest single day of protests in a weeks-long campaign from Hamas in the run up to the US embassy move and the Nakba, or ‘Catastrophe’, on Tuesday - celebrated in Israel as the country’s 70th birthday.

The order given to Israeli soldiers was to prevent Palestinians from crossing into Israel at any price, including direct live fire. Israel has also warned Hamas that any mass breakthrough will result in airstrikes on the group’s infrastructure inside the Strip - with a number of targets hit by Israeli forces by the afternoon.

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7 mins ago
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has urged Israeli authorities to show restraint in its use of force against demonstrators.

“France calls on all actors to show responsibility to prevent a new escalation,” Mr Le Drian said in a statement. “France again calls on the Israeli authorities to exercise discernment and restraint in the use of force that must be strictly proportionate.”

Mr Le Drian said the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem “violated international law and in particular UN Security Council resolutions.”
23 mins ago
A top Turkish official has condemned Israel for deadly clashes along the Israeli-Gaza border, while the foreign ministry has blasted the US decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem.

Taking to Twitter, the spokesman to the Turkish president, Ibrahim Kalin, called the clashes that have killed at least 41 Palestinians "another dark spot, another crime added to Israel's wall of shame."

He also criticised the international community for its silence "in the face of this systematic barbarism." He tweeted: "Palestine is not alone. Jerusalem is not alone."

The Turkish foreign ministry condemned in a statement the US decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, saying it violated international law and damaged the peace process. It also slammed Israel: "We curse the massacre carried out by Israeli security forces encouraged by this step on the Palestinians participating in peaceful demonstrations."

The foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, called Israel's actions "state terror."
35 mins ago
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's spokesman has said that the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem would create incitement and instability in the region and ruled out Washington as being a mediator for Middle East peace.

"With this step, the US administration has cancelled its role in the peace process and has insulted the world, the Palestinian people and the Arab and the Islamic nation and it has created incitement and instability," said Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeineh.

38 mins ago
An Israeli fighter jet has struck a military training facility belonging to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“The strike was conducted in response to the violent acts of the last few hours being carried out by Hamas along the security fence,” the statement says.

The IDF blames Hamas for provoking the protests on the border with Gaza.

Earlier, an aircraft and a tank targeted two Hamas military positions in response to an incident in which Israeli forces were fired upon, the statement adds.

“The IDF operates with determination in order to prevent massive terror activities constantly being led by the Hamas terror organisation in. Each act of terror will be met with a harsh response.”
39 mins ago
The White has issued a note on the embassy opening that says President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel “does not mean the United States has taken a position on final status negotiations” in relation to Jerusalem.

The briefing emphasises that this decision fulfills a promise made by Mr Trump and that is “simply a recognition of reality.”

No doubt Palestinian leaders will say that it does show that Mr Trump has taken a position, whatever the White House says.
an hour ago
After a musical interlude the embassy ceremony has ended. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner soak up the well-wishes from attendees as they head away.

Mr Netanyahu went out ahead of them, with much back-slapping on the way.
an hour ago
"God bless Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel," is how Mr Netanyahu ends his speech. It is that type of rhetoric that will infuriate Palestinian leaders.

an hour ago
"We are in Jerusalem and we are here to stay," Mr Netanyahu says.

Referring to the clashes in Gaza, he praises the soldiers "protecting Israel's border today".
an hour ago
"What a glorious day, remember this moment," Mr Netanyahu adds. "This is history".

an hour ago
Here is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

He says of the US that Israel has "no better friends in the world".
an hour ago
Mr Kusner - who has been tasked with helping to hammer out a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians by Mr Trump - has referred to the "truth' several times. What he says is the "truth" of Jerusalem's place as the capital of Israel.

"The road to peace begins with a strong America recognising the truth," Mr Kushner says.
an hour ago
In a reference to events in Gaza, Mr Kusher says that "those provoking problems like we see in Gaza are part of the problem and not part of the solution".

That can likely be seen as a veiled jab at Hamas, who Israel blame for stoking the protests on the border with Gaza.
an hour ago
During the airing of his video message, Mr Trump tweeted:

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Big day for Israel. Congratulations!

9:36 AM - May 14, 2018
54K
23.7K people are talking about this
Twitter Ads info and privacy
an hour ago
Jared Kushner is giving his speech now - he says that Mr Trump has "delivered" because when he makes a promise he keeps it.

He gets a large round of applause when he says that Mr Trump kept another promise in pulling the US out of the "dangerous" Iran deal
an hour ago
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, in a separate statement issued in Beirut, called the embassy move a provocative move that would “put all peace paths in the region in front of a dead end” and exacerbate violence and extremism. “We affirm our complete solidarity with the Palestinian brothers in their legitimate struggle,” he added.

an hour ago
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/jerusalem-us-embassy-opens-live-updates-israel-gaza-strip-protests-trump-kushner-latest-a8350501.html Lebanon's foreign minister has called the US decisions to move its embassy to Jerusalem and to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal policy failures that will lead to more tensions and extremism in the region.

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, whose Free Patriotic Movement is politically aligned with the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, told Reuters that moving the US embassy in Israel would undermine peace in the Middle East.

Mr Bassil said that alongside President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, the US moves added to a long list of US policy failures in the region.

“This is a move that will cause more tensions and lead to more extremism in the region,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Brussels. “We cannot accept to have any kind of peace while Jerusalem is being kidnapped.”

“This is another failure,” Mr Bassil told Reuters. “Israel has declared a long time ago that it is seeking anything but peace, but now the United States is backing Israel in its policy of launching wars against the peoples of the region.”
2 hours ago
Some longer excerpts from Mr Trump's video message:

"Today we officially opened the United States embassy in Jerusalem. Congratulations. It’s been a long time coming," he said.

"For many years we failed to acknowledge the obvious, the plain reality that Israel’s capital is Jerusalem."
2 hours ago