Israeli fire yesterday killed at least 37 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza Strip border, marking the deadliest day of violence there since a devastating 2014 cross-border war and casting a pall over Israel’s festive inauguration of the new US embassy in contested Jerusalem.
In a show of anger fueled by the embassy move, protesters set tires on fire, sending plumes of black smoke into the air, and hurled firebombs and stones toward Israeli troops across the border.
The Israeli military said its troops had come under fire and accused protesters of trying to break through the border fence.
Photo: EPA
It said troops shot and killed three Palestinians who were trying to plant a bomb.
By mid-afternoon, at least 37 Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed, while at least 772 were wounded, including 27 critically, Palestinian health officials said.
The Hamas-led protest in Gaza was meant to be the biggest yet in a weeks-long campaign against a decade-old blockade of the territory.
The march was also directed at the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem later yesterday.
The relocation of the embassy from Tel Aviv, a key campaign promise of US President Donald Trump, has infuriated the Palestinians, who seek east Jerusalem as a future capital.
“A great day for Israel!” Trump tweeted early yesterday.
Yesterday marked the biggest showdown in years between Israel’s military and Gaza’s Hamas rulers along the volatile border.
The sides have largely observed a ceasefire since the 2014 war — their third in a decade.
The protests mark the culmination of a campaign, led by Hamas and fueled by despair among Gaza’s 2 million people, to break the decade-old border blockade of the territory imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007.
Since weekly border marches began in late March, 79 Palestinian protesters have been killed and more than 2,300 wounded by Israeli army fire.
Hamas said four members, including three security men, were among the dead yesterday.
Ismail Radwan, a senior Hamas figure, said the mass border protests against Israel would continue “until the rights of the Palestinian people are achieved.”
“Moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will be a disaster on the American administration and a black day in the history of the American people, because they are partners with the occupation and its aggression against the Palestinian people,” he added.
Most of the casualties were in the southern Gaza towns of Khan Younis and Rafah.
Israeli forces were firing volleys of tear gas to disperse the crowds and the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard.
Sirens were constantly wailing as the wounded were carried to nearby ambulances.
Groups of young activists repeatedly approached the fence, but were quickly scattered by gunfire and tear gas.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the army had set up additional “layers” of security in and around communities near the border to defend Israeli civilians.
He said there already had been several “significant attempts” to break through the fence.
“Even if the fence is breached, we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them,” he said.
European foreign ministers yesterday said the embassy move was unwise and likely to exacerbate tensions. Their comments came after the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania blocked the 28-nation EU from publishing a statement about the US move.
Yesterday’s opening was attended by Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who both serve as White House advisers.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS