At least 55 killed in bloodiest day in Gaza since 2014

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner attend opening of Jerusalem embassy

Donald Trump praises embassy opening as a 'great day for Israel'

Bloody protests on the Gaza border will only buy time for Hamas in the sidelined Palestinian cause

Gaza is braced for fresh protests against Israel as the first funerals are expected to be held for 58 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces on Monday, the deadliest day since the end of the 2014 Gaza conflict.

Tuesday is the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians call the Nakba, or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled amid the creation of Israel in 1948.

Weeks of angry protests were further enflamed on Monday by the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. While Ivanka Trump and other American dignitaries gathered in the afternoon sun to celebrate the embassy opening, the Gaza border was transformed into a scene of fire and chaos as tens of thousands of protesters faced Israeli snipers.

Israel’s military said that it opened fire to stop Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, from using the protests as a distraction to break through the border fence and carry out attacks inside Israel.

Palestinians said the overwhelming majority of those killed were unarmed demonstrators while the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of carrying out “a terrible massacre” and called for international intervention to stop the killing.