Funerals are to be held in Gaza for the 58 people killed by Israeli forces as tens of thousands protested along the frontier against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
The funerals were expected to take place in the coastal enclave on Tuesday, coinciding with the day Palestinians mark the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, commemorating the more than 700,000 people who fled or were expelled from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation.
Khaled Batch, the head of the grassroots organising committee of the Gaza protests, said Tuesday would be a day for funerals, suggesting there were no plans for further border marches after the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war. Israeli media reported that some tents where protesters had been gathering at the border have been taken down.
The violent scenes on Monday contrasted sharply with the glossy inauguration of Washington’s new mission about 60 miles away in an affluent Jerusalem neighbourhood. The US president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, celebrated the opening to clapping and cheering from American and Israeli VIPs.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, joined the US in blaming Hamas, the Palestinian ruling faction in Gaza, for the deaths. He defended his country’s use of force, saying “every country has the obligation to defend its borders”.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, condemned “the violence of the Israeli armed forces against protesters” in a telephone call with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II. He also reaffirmed criticism of the US decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem.
Anger at Trump’s December declaration on the embassy helped to ignite the six-week protest movement. To international condemnation, Israeli snipers have regularly fired on demonstrators in past rallies.
At the ceremony in Jerusalem, Washington’s ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, stood on a stage painted with the US flag and said: “Today’s historic event is attributed to the vision, courage and moral clarity of one person to whom we owe an enormous and eternal debt of gratitude: President Donald J Trump.” The crowd cheered and gave a standing ovation.
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