More than 1,400 others wounded by Israeli forces during march calling for return of Palestinian refugees to their lands.At least 16 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli forces in Gaza, Palestinian medics have said, as protesters kicked off a planned six-week demonstration demanding the right of return for refugees.

Israel’s military said 17,000 Palestinians were “rioting” in six locations in the Gaza strip on Friday, rolling burning tires at the security fence and its troops, which it said responded “with riot dispersal means and firing towards main instigators”.

On Friday night, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, called for an independent investigation into deadly clashes as the Palestinian ambassador, Riyad Mansour, voiced his disappointment that the security council did not condemn what he called a “heinous massacre” of peaceful demonstrators.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that Israel was responsible for the violence and declared Saturday a national day of mourning.The Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said “the international community must not be deceived” by what he called “a well-organised and violent terror-gathering” under the banner of a peaceful march.https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/...100034136.html



Security Council Members Condemn Killing of Palestinian Civilians in Clashes at Israel-Gaza Border after Peaceful Protest Turned Violent
30 March 2018

The Security Council members, in an emergency meeting tonight, condemned the killing of civilians in Gaza during a peaceful protest that had erupted in violence.

Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, briefing the Council on the situation, said that what had begun early in the day as a demonstration had devolved into violence at several locations across Gaza, resulting in more than 15 deaths and 1,000 injuries of civilians, with some reportedly coming from live ammunition that had been used by the Israeli security forces.

The demonstration had been meant to begin six weeks of peaceful protests leading up to the commemoration of Al-Nakba, marking 70 years of the expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands.

“The developments in Gaza today are again a painful reminder of the consequences of a missing peace between Israel and Palestine and the need to step up our efforts in support of a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” he said, strongly urging Palestinians, Israelis and the international community to take concrete measures to reverse the current course of the conflict and advance the goal of a just and sustainable peace based on the two-State solution.

Following the briefing, Council members expressed grave concern about the possibility of violence spiralling out of control, with many calling for an investigation and for perpetrators to be held accountable.

The meeting began at 7:42 p.m. and ended at 8:48 p.m.

https://www.un.org/press/en/2018/sc13273.doc.htm

(Why, only 1 hour meeting? Of course, the Sheriff was out of town, celebrating Easter...)