The 70th anniversary of the Nakba was marked with a massacre in Gaza on Monday, May 14, 2018, with the biggest one-day toll of Palestinians killed since the 2014 Israeli invasion of Gaza. Israeli forces opened fire on demonstrators in Gaza, killing at least 60 people and injuring thousands of Palestinians protesting the Monday opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. We condemn the gruesome use of lethal force against the Palestinian protesters that reflected both the continuing Nakba and the violence of the 11-year siege on Gaza; the Israeli military attacks on the popular Great Marches of Return since March 30 have taken over 110 lives.
On the very hour of the opening by the United States government of its embassy in Jerusalem, thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children, women and persons with disabilities, were massacred by Israeli snipers, baptizing the US embassy with bloodshed.
We are witnessing the use of unabated brutality and force against civilians to stifle popular protest – an abhorrent violation of human and people’s rights and international humanitarian law. The killing of Palestinian demonstrators is a clear violation of international human rights law, committing what appear to be willful killings constituting war crimes.
Meanwhile, the US blocked the United Nations Security Council’s call for investigation of the deaths in Gaza caused by the Israeli military attack. Washington rushed to justify Israel’s response, accusing the Palestinian movement Hamas of fueling the protests and justifying Israeli brutality, which is funded and supported by billions of dollars in US military aid annually. The US has a long record of using its veto power in the UN Security Council to protect Israel from international scrutiny.
