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Dozens of Palestinians Killed in Clashes Over Embassy Opening

<p>Violence erupted along the Israel-Gaza border Monday as tens of thousands of angry Palestinians gathered to protest the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The protests are part of a broader Hamas-led campaign on the border that has resulted in dozens of deaths since it began on March 30th&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;&lbrack;Monday&rsqb; was the most violent day that we&rsquo&semi;ve seen here on the border since the war in 2014&comma;&rdquo&semi; said <em>Fox News<&sol;em> correspondent Benjamin Hall&period; &ldquo&semi;All day we heard gunfire&hellip&semi;we saw airstrikes taking place in Gaza&comma; we saw thick black smoke where the protestors were burning their tires&comma; and we saw tear gas being dropped on protestors trying to disperse them &&num;8211&semi; but it just didn&rsquo&semi;t work&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Israeli Defense Force &lpar;IDF&rpar; conducted airstrikes on Hamas camps in the Gaza Strip and used live fire and tear gas to prevent protesters from crossing the border into Israel&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israeli&rsquo&semi;s security service&comma; Shin Bet&comma; believes Hamas is using the protests as cover to launch an assault on the border&period; &ldquo&semi;From the information we have&comma; it appears Hamas is encouraging and sending protestors to the border fence in order to carry out violent acts and damage security infrastructure&comma;&rdquo&semi; said the agency&comma; adding that Iran is funding the operation&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There have already been &ldquo&semi;significant attempts&rdquo&semi; to break through the border fence&comma; reports IDF spokesman Lt&period; Col&period; Jonathan Conricus&comma; but &ldquo&semi;even if the fence is breached&comma; we will be able to protect Israeli civilians from attempts to massacre or kidnap or kill them&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Monday&rsquo&semi;s clashes resulted in 58 deaths and over 2&comma;700 injuries&period; According to the IDF&comma; three of those killed were attempting to detonate a bomb at the border&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The violence is expected to escalate Tuesday&comma; when Palestinians observe &ldquo&semi;Nakba Day&rdquo&semi; during which they mourn what they consider the &ldquo&semi;catastrophe&rdquo&semi; of the creation of the state of Israel 70 years ago&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The purpose of Monday&rsquo&semi;s demonstrations was to &ldquo&semi;powerfully confront the embassy deal&rdquo&semi; and to &ldquo&semi;draw the map of return in blood&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya&comma; who promised the violence would continue&period; &ldquo&semi;The American administration bears responsibility for all consequences following the implementation of this unjust decision&period; This crime will not pass&period;&rdquo&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Trump Administration celebrated Monday as a success despite the protests&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&ldquo&semi;When there is peace in this region&comma; we will look back upon this day and will remember that the journey to peace started with a strong America recognizing the truth&comma;&rdquo&semi; said Jared Kushner&comma; who attended the opening ceremony at the embassy in Jerusalem with his wife Ivanka Trump and Treasury Sec&period; Steven Mnuchin&period;&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Editor&&num;8217&semi;s note&colon;<&sol;strong> The Palestinians do not need much of a reason to protest and attack the border&period; This will pass&period; Trump is taking all of the old negotiating positions off the table&comma; and this is the only way to reset negotiations here&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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