Dozens of Palestinians reportedly killed as protests build against U.S. embassy in Jerusalem

Conflict near the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

(Image credit: MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

published 14 May 2018

Israeli gunfire reportedly killed at least three dozen Palestinians and wounded many more along the Gaza Strip border fence on Monday as thousands of protesters gathered ahead of the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Demonstrations against the embassy's move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, were fueled by calls from Gaza mosques urging people to participate in a "Great March of Return." The May 15 event, which honors the 700,000 Palestinians who left or were expelled from their homes due to Israel's 1948 Declaration of Independence, culminates six weeks of protests in which Israeli troops have killed dozens of Palestinians.

President Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner, both White House advisers, are on hand for the embassy's inauguration on Monday.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.