Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has denounced the murder of more than a dozen Palestinians at hands of “Zionist tyrants” during a mass demonstration against the Tel Aviv regime’s occupation of their homeland.

Having stolen their land, the Israeli regime now murders the peaceful Palestinian protesters during their march against the regime’s brutalities, Zarif said on his Twitter page on Saturday.

On the eve of Passover (of all days), which commemorates God liberating Prophet Moses and his people from tyranny, Zionist tyrants murder peaceful Palestinian protesters—whose land they have stolen—as they march to escape their cruel and inhuman apartheid bondage. #Shameful. pic.twitter.com/NhysDXaM5q — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) March 31, 2018

At least 16 Palestinians were killed and over 1,400 others injured on Friday by Israeli forces who were confronting one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations in recent years along the Gaza border with the occupied territories.

The majority of the wounded suffered from tear gas inhalation or injuries inflicted by live fire and rubber-coated steel bullets.

Ahead of the protest, the Israeli army had deployed more than 100 snipers to the Gaza border with permission to fire.

‘World must respond to Israeli crimes’

Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi strongly condemned the killing and injuring of Palestinian protesters by the “racist” Zionist regime forces in Gaza, saying the latest crime revealed the regime’s “inhumane nature.”

Israel “has a long history of occupation, massacre and crimes,” he said, adding that the regime has grown even more emboldened by the US administration’s “generous support” and “shameful attempts by some delusional and novice regional leaders” to establish relations with Tel Aviv.

Qassemi also called on the International community and those who still care about humanity to take immediate and decisive measures against the Israeli atrocities.

He further asked regional countries to focus on fighting “the Zionist regime's expansionist and inhumane policies” instead of spending their efforts on internal conflicts and arming themselves to threaten other Muslim states.

The responsibility for the deaths of Palestinians lies with “leaders of a few known regional countries, who are secretly seeking to establish ties with the Zionist regime in order to get the consent of the US,” Qassemi added

Dubbed “The Great March of Return,” Friday’s rallies in Gaza coincided with the 42nd anniversary of Land Day, which commemorates the murder of six Palestinians by Israeli forces in 1976.

The Return rallies will culminate on 15 May that marks Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe) on which Israel was created.

Palestinian officials as well as several Muslim countries condemned the Israeli response to the peaceful Gaza demonstration.

In a televised statement on Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held Israel responsible for the violence in Gaza, urging the United Nations to take “immediate action to provide international protection to our defenseless Palestinian people in the face of this continuous and escalating daily aggression.”

Additionally on Friday, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting over the situation in Gaza.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also called for “an independent and transparent investigation” into the Gaza clashes.