The Israeli military has conducted overnight air strikes on the Gaza Strip’s northern areas, claiming it was targeting Hamas positions.
The development comes after the Israeli army shot dead 64 Palestinians protesting near the fence with Israel to call for their right of return.
Palestinians were marking 70 years since the Nakba, or Catastrophe, the day on which the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, in a violent ethnic cleansing campaign.
Throughout the past seven weeks, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been protesting as part of a weeks-long movement calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the homes and villages they were forcibly expelled from by Zionist militias in 1948.
Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 113 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded more than 12,000 people.
US vows to veto UN resolution for protection of Palestinians
The US will “unquestionably veto” a UN draft resolution which calls for “the consideration of measures to guarantee the safety and protection” of Palestinian civilians.
US Ambassador Nikki Haley called the Kuwait-sponsored resolution “grossly one-sided” and “morally bankrupt”.
“The resolution calls on Israel to immediately cease its actions in self-defense, but makes no mention of Hamas’ aggressive actions against Israeli security forces and civilians,” she said in a statement.
The draft resolution “deplores” and calls for a halt to “the use of any excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force” by the Israeli military. It also “deplores the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli civilian areas”.
It asks UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a report on a potential “international protection mechanism”.
A vote on the draft resolution is expected to take place on Friday.
Saturday, May 19
Two Palestinians succumb to wounds
Mouin Abdelhamid al-Saai, a 58-year-old man, died in Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital on Saturday, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Israeli forces shot al-Saai on Monday as they fired live ammunition, tear gas and firebombs at protesters during demonstrations that coincided with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
The protests also came a day before Palestinians marked 70 years since the Nakba, or Catastrophe, the day on which the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, in a violent ethnic cleansing campaign.
Mohammed Mazin Alian, a 20-year-old man, also succumbed to his wounds on Saturday after he was shot by Israeli forces on Monday east of the al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
This brings the total number of Palestinians killed since Monday in Gaza to 64.
Thursday, May 17
Israel targets ‘Hamas positions’ in overnight air raids
The Israeli military has said that it launched overnight air strikes on Hamas “infrastructure in military compounds” and “weapons production” facilities in the north of the besieged enclave.
The army alleged the “strikes were conducted in response to the heavy machine gun fire that targeted the city of Sderot” in the south.
While Hamas has not officially responded to the attacks, a security official from the movement told Anadolu Agency that several of its positions had been targeted.
The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said no one had been injured in the attacks.
Palestinians withdraw envoy to US
The Palestinian envoy to Washington has been recalled to Ramallah in protest over the US
Husam Zomlot was instructed to return by President Mahmoud Abbas, the foreign ministry announced in a statement.
It did not say how long Zomlot would be at headquarters.
Riad al-Malki, the foreign minister, said: “When they [the US] opened their embassy in Jerusalem there was a need for a decision from our side and this was our decision.”
Clashes and arrests near Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate
Israeli border police forces and Palestinian protesters clashed near
Many protesters were removed from the plaza, and others were arrested in the nearby area.
Demonstrators had gathered at the square outside the gate as part of Nakba Day protests.
“The Palestinians have been living here, I was born here, my father, my grandfather, my great great grandfather, I have no other place to go, I don’t even have a passport to go anywhere else,” said Mujid Keluti, a Jerusalem resident.
Netanyahu, Erdogan in Twitter spat as Israel, Turkey expel envoys
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exchanged heated words on Twitter over Israel’s killing of Palestinian protesters in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu, in a Twitter post, said Erdogan “well understands terrorism and slaughter” because of his support for Hamas, a day after the Turkish leader accused Israel of “state terror” and “genocide”.
