As it happened: At least 58 Palestinians killed and thousands injured by Israeli forces amid protests at US embassy in Jerusalem
As Israeli and American officials celebrated the change, thousands of Palestinian protesters were wounded or killed by Israeli bullets
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Your support makes all the difference.At least 58 Palestinians were killed and more than 2,000 people wounded in protests at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel, according to Palestinian officials, on the same day the US fulfiled 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 marked 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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Hamas, the militant group that rules the Strip, had urged supporters to break through the 11-year-old Israel blockade, which has left Gaza "uninhabitable".
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described the actions of the Israeli forces as a "genocide" and Israel as a "terrorist state".
"No matter from what side, whether from the United States or Israel, I curse this humanitarian plight, this genocide," he said.
Kuwait has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council amid international outcry over the clashes.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's top aides and supporters on Monday celebrated the opening of the new US Embassy in Jerusalem as a campaign promised fulfilled.
Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, along with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, led the US delegation with a single message: Only Trump had the courage to act on what America has wanted for a long time.
“While presidents before him have backed down from their pledge to move the American Embassy once they were in office, this president delivered. Because when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it,” Mr Kushner said in his speech.
In a recorded message played at the ceremony, Mr Trump said the embassy move was a "long time coming" but he remained committed to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Our greatest hope is for peace,” said Trump, whose recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocation of the embassy to the holy city from Tel Aviv, has outraged Palestinians and drawn international concern.
“The United States remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement,” Mr Trump said. “The United States will always be a great friend of Israel and a partner in the cause of freedom and peace.”
The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.
Protests are starting to wind down at the Gaza as people leave the area for the evening.
The Israeli military says there were no border breaches during the Gaza demonstrations, despite an "unprecedented" level of violence.
The army says it used airstrikes and tank fire against Hamas targets in Gaza after squads of gunmen opened fire and tried to plant bombs along the border.
"We saw more than five explosive devices. We saw shooting at forces," said Brigadier General Ronen Manelis, the chief army spokesman.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, another army spokesman, said hundreds of protesters carried out "concerted, coordinated" attacks on the border fence in an attempt to infiltrate.
Palestinian health officials says 43 people were killed by Israeli fire — the deadliest day of violence since a 2014 war.
The military accuses Hamas of using the protests as cover to carry out attacks.
It is the deadliest day of violence at in Gaza since the 2014 conflict there.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Israel's actions on the Gaza border are self-defence against the enclave's ruling Hamas group.
"Every country has an obligation to defend its borders," Mr Netanyahu wrote on Twitter. "The Hamas terrorist organisation declares it intends to destroy Israel and sends thousands to breach the border fence in order to achieve this goal. We will continue to act with determination to protect our sovereignty and citizens."
The Arab League will hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the "illegal" US embassy move, Egypt's news agency MENA has reported, citing an Arab diplomat.
Arab League Chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit called the move a "clear violation of international law", MENA said.
"The fall of Palestinian martyrs by the bullets of the Israeli occupation must ring an alarm ... bell to any state that does not find anything wrong with the immoral and illegal stance that we are watching," he said.
"The opening of the American embassy in occupied Jerusalem represents a step of utmost gravity which I do not think the US administration realises its real consequences in both the short and long term," he added.
The Arab league is expected to hold a meeting on Wednesday at the level of permanent representatives "to counter the illegal decision taken by the United States of America to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem," MENA reported.
Iran's hard-line paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has condemned Israel's killing of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Iran is a longtime opponent of Israel. Israel says it targeted Iranian positions in Syria last week.
A Guard statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency said the Guard also strongly condemned the U.S. over moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The Guard said the "harsh and vicious act ... could start a new wave of combating America, anger and hatred against the supporters of this vicious move beyond the region."
↵There has been no mention of the protests by most senior US officials - bar one reference in Mr Kushner's speech about "those provoking the scenes in Gaza" - meaning Hamas.
Ivanka Trump has tweeted some more images from the embassy opening.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said the US can “not be trusted to be fair” following its embassy move to Jerusalem.
It is unclear where President Trump is “taking the world and taking America,” Nasrallah added in a televised speech in Beirut.
President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the violence in Gaza, the French presidency said on Monday, adding that he will talk to all involved parties in the region over the next few days, Reuters reports