1,300 wounded as 35,000 protesters rally against the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem overseen by Trump’s Middle East envoy Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka
- US moving embassy from Tel Aviv today after Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December
- Israeli snipers have killed scores of protesters near the Gaza border with more than a thousand more injured
- Mass protests taking place with Palestinian government accusing Israel of committing a ‘terrible massacre’
- Comes after al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri called for group’s followers to carry out jihad against the US
- Russia says embassy move risks increasing Middle East tension as Turkey says US is now ‘part of the problem’
- The Arab League is planning to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss America’s ‘illegal’ embassy move
- US President’s son-in-law and Middle East envoy Jared Kushner said opening showed US could be trusted and that when ‘Trump makes a promise, he keeps it’
- Israeli snipers have killed scores of Palestinians and wounded hundreds more as 35,000 protesters rallied against the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem overseen by Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka.
A 14-year-old was among 43 shot dead along the Gaza border on what is already the deadliest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war between the Jewish state and Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas.
At least 1,300 more have been injured with about 450 of them by live bullets, according to Gaza officials as the Palestinian government accused Israel of committing a ‘terrible massacre’ and Amnesty International called the bloodshed an ‘abhorrent violation’ of human rights.
This afternoon a White House delegation – including Ivanka Trump and her husband – gathered for an inauguration ceremony for the opening of the new embassy alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US President tossed aside decades of precedent when he recognised the city as Israel’s capital in December – a decision that sparked global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis.
Russia said today it feared the embassy opening would increase tension in the Middle East while Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan warned the US it had forfeited its role as a mediator in the region and was now ‘part of the problem rather than the solution’.
As deadly clashes continued this afternoon, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy has been a ‘long time coming’ and that the U.S. had ‘failed to acknowledge the obvious’ for many years. He added that ‘today, we follow through on this recognition’ and that the new embassy was opening ‘many, many years ahead of schedule.’
Trump also said his ‘greatest hope’ is for peace and that he ‘remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement’. His on-in-law Jared Kushner said the opening showed the US could be trusted and that ‘when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it’.
‘Today also demonstrates American leadership. By moving our embassy to Jerusalem, we have shown the world once again that the United States can be trusted,’ he said.
‘We stand with our friends and our allies, and above all else, we’ve shown that the United States of America will do what’s right,’ he said.
Netanyahu made a reference to the conflict on the Gaza border as he said in his speech that ‘our brave soldiers are protecting the borders of Israel as we speak, we salute them all’.
SOURCE: UK MAIL
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