At least 41 people are dead after Palestinian protestors rushed the border fence between Gaza and Israel on May 14 ahead of the opening ceremony for the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, the New York Times reports. More than 1,000 Palestinians were also injured.
- Israeli soldiers and snipers opened fire with on tens of thousands of Palestinian protesters as they attempted to cross the border fence into Israel, hurling explosives at and flying flaming kites over Israeli troops. The New York Times reports that protesters have been flying the kites, which are armed with crude incendiary devices, “in swarms into Israel with the aim of igniting the dry fields of rural communities on the other side of the border fence.”
- “The rioters are hurling firebombs and explosive devices towards the security fence and IDF forces, and are burning tires, throwing rocks and launching flaming objects in order to ignite fires in Israeli territory and harm IDF troops,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
- It is the bloodiest single day since demonstrations began seven weeks ago after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Embassy would be relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. More than 90 people have died in the protests since they began on March 30, CNN reports.
- Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank demonstrated on Monday in opposition to the move, which has sparked outrage across the Arab world. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, ostensibly spearheading the administration’s peace efforts in the Middle East, is speaking at the event, which began at 9 am EST.
- Timed to the 70th anniversary of the modern formation of the State of Israel, the Trump administration says the embassy move will result in greater stability in the region. A bigger protest along the border is planned for May 15, the anniversary of the “expulsion or flight from the newly formed Jewish state of hundreds of thousands of Arabs in 1948,” according to The New York Times.
- “Today is a day of sadness,” the Palestinian minister of education told The New York Times of the embassy’s opening. “It’s a manifestation of the power of America and President Trump in upsetting the Palestinian people and the people who have been awaiting the independence of Palestine for 70 years.”
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