Israeli snipers have killed scores ofPalestinians and wounded hundreds more as 35,000 protesters rallied against the US Embassy opening in Jerusalem overseen by Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka.
A 14-year-old was among 43 shot dead along the Gaza border on what is already the deadliest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 war between the Jewish state and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.
At least 1,300 more have been injured with about 450 of them by live bullets, according to Gaza officials as the Palestinian government accused Israel of committing a 'terrible massacre' and Amnesty International called the bloodshed an 'abhorrent violation' of human rights.
This afternoon a White House delegation - including Ivanka Trump and her husband - gathered for an inauguration ceremony for the opening of the new embassy alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US President tossed aside decades of precedent when he recognised the city as Israel's capital in December - a decision that sparked global outcry, Palestinian anger and exuberant praise from Israelis.
Russia said today it feared the embassy opening would increase tension in the Middle East while Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan warned the US it had forfeited its role as a mediator in the region and was now 'part of the problem rather than the solution'.
As deadly clashes continued this afternoon, Trump said in a video address aired at the opening that the embassy has been a 'long time coming' and that the U.S. had 'failed to acknowledge the obvious' for many years. He added that 'today, we follow through on this recognition' and that the new embassy was opening 'many, many years ahead of schedule.'
Trump also said his 'greatest hope' is for peace and that he 'remains fully committed to facilitating a lasting peace agreement'. His on-in-law Jared Kushner said the opening showed the US could be trusted and that 'when President Trump makes a promise, he keeps it'.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the international community must bring those responsible to justice, in a post on Twitter.
'Shocking killing of dozens, injury of hundreds by Israeli live fire in #Gaza must stop now,' Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein wrote in a message carried on the UN human rights Twitter account.
'The right to life must be respected. Those responsible for outrageous human rights violations must be held to account. The int'l community needs to ensure justice for victims.'
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