US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman speaks during a reception hosted by the Orthodox Union in Jerusalem ahead of the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, May 14, 2018. PHOTO: REUTERS
“Today we open the United States embassy in Jerusalem, Israel,” US ambassador to Israel David Friedman said at the beginning of the inaugural ceremony, attended by a US delegation from Washington and Israeli leaders.
On the Gaza border, at least 38 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire in the latest in a round of protests dubbed the “Great March of Return”, health officials said.Trump’s recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December outraged Palestinians, who said the United States could no longer serve as an honest broker in any peace process with Israel.
Deadliest day in years as US embassy opens in Jerusalem
Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they want to establish in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Israel regards all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed, as its “eternal and indivisible capital” in a move that has not won international recognition.
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