The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against Palestinians who have been staging weekly mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein made his appeal ahead of a fifth round of Gaza marches on Friday, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-long blockade of the territory.

The commissioner says Israel has not heeded warnings by the U.N. and others, after troops used lethal force against unarmed protesters, killing 35 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,500.

Since late March, thousands have demonstrated near the border every Friday, some throwing stones or burning tires. Israel says Gaza's rulers from the militant Hamas group are using protests as cover for attacks on the border, including by planting explosives. </s> GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against Palestinians who have been staging weekly mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein made his appeal ahead of a fifth round of Gaza marches on Friday, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-long blockade of the territory.

The commissioner says Israel has not heeded warnings by the U.N. and others, after troops used lethal force against unarmed protesters, killing 35 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,500.

Mourners wave flags while the body of Palestinian journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein, who died after being shot by Israeli troops while covering a border protest, is carried during his funeral in the Jebaliya refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Thursday, April 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Since late March, thousands have demonstrated near the border every Friday, some throwing stones or burning tires. Israel says Gaza's rulers from the militant Hamas group are using protests as cover for attacks on the border, including by planting explosives. </s> GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against Palestinians who have been staging weekly mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein made his appeal ahead of a fifth round of Gaza marches on Friday, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-long blockade of the territory.

The commissioner says Israel has not heeded warnings by the U.N. and others, after troops used lethal force against unarmed protesters, killing 35 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,500.

Since late March, thousands have demonstrated near the border every Friday, some throwing stones or burning tires. Israel says Gaza's rulers from the militant Hamas group are using protests as cover for attacks on the border, including by planting explosives. </s> GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against Palestinians who have been staging weekly mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein made his appeal ahead of a fifth round of Gaza marches on Friday, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-long blockade of the territory.

The commissioner says Israel has not heeded warnings by the U.N. and others, after troops used lethal force against unarmed protesters, killing 35 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,500.

Since late March, thousands have demonstrated near the border every Friday, some throwing stones or burning tires. Israel says Gaza’s rulers from the militant Hamas group are using protests as cover for attacks on the border, including by planting explosives. </s> UN rights official to Israel: Avoid excessive force in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. high commissioner for human rights has urged Israel to refrain from using excessive force against Palestinians who have been staging weekly mass protests on the Gaza border with Israel.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein made his appeal ahead of a fifth round of Gaza marches on Friday, aimed in part at trying to break a decade-long blockade of the territory.

The commissioner says Israel has not heeded warnings by the U.N. and others, after troops used lethal force against unarmed protesters, killing 35 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,500.

Since late March, thousands have demonstrated near the border every Friday, some throwing stones or burning tires. Israel says Gaza's rulers from the militant Hamas group are using protests as cover for attacks on the border, including by planting explosives. </s> GAZA CITY - Three Palestinians were shot dead Friday as thousands demonstrated along the border between Gaza and Israel for a fifth consecutive week of rallies dubbed the Great March of Return.

More than 300 other people were hospitalised for gunshot wounds and tear gas inhalation, Gaza’s health ministry said. Forty-four Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli fire since major protests began on March 30, with hundreds more wounded. No Israelis have been hurt. Marchers are demanding the right to return to their homes seized by Israel in 1948. Israel says that allowing the refugees in would mean the end of the Jewish state, and accuses Gaza’s Islamist rulers Hamas of using the protests as a pretext for violence.

The protest movement is officially independent but has the backing of Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008. On Friday protesters again gathered at five sites near the border fence, though numbers were down on previous weeks.

Dozens of young men burned tyres and threw stones a few hundreds metres from the border, with Israeli soldiers occasionally firing tear gas and live ammunition. Two men, who were not identified by the Palestinian health ministry, were shot dead east of Gaza City, while a third, 29-year-old Abdul Salam al-Bakr, was killed along the border in southern Gaza. Three journalists were among those injured, the Gaza Centre for Media Freedom said. The Israeli army said in a statement around 10,000 Palestinians had taken part in “riots.”

“Attempts have been made to harm security infrastructure, roll burning tires, hurl rocks and fly kites with flaming objects attached to them.” In response, it said, “troops have used riot dispersal means and have fired in accordance with the rules of engagement.”

The decision has infuriated Palestinians, who see the annexed eastern half of the holy city as the capital of their future state. Amnesty International on Friday called for an arms embargo of Israel over the use of live fire.

The UN rights chief on Friday urged Israeli forces to stop using excessive force against Palestinian protesters and called for troops who have committed abuses “to be held accountable.” “Every week, we witness instances of use of lethal force against unarmed demonstrators,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said in a statement.

“Warnings by the United Nations and others have seemingly gone unheeded, as the approach of the security forces from week to week does not seem to have changed,” he added.

Meanwhile, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis called Friday for the resignation of Prime Minister Viorica Dancila amid a row sparked by the possible move of the country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. “Mrs Dancila is not up to the job of prime minister of Romania and as a result the government is becoming a liability for Romania. That is why I am publicly calling for Mrs Dancila’s resignation,” Iohannis said in a short statement.

Iohannis pointed to a secret memorandum adopted by the government last week with the aim of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He is opposed to the move and says he was not informed beforehand.

President Donald Trump said Friday he is considering traveling to Israel next month to open the new US embassy, which he controversially ordered moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. “I may go. I’m very proud of it,” he said at a White House press conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

, as he described nixing a $1 billion, 10-year plan for a new structure in favor of a $300,000 to $400,000 makeover of part of an existing US installation.

“It is going to be beautiful. And it will be somewhat temporary, but it could be for many years,” he said.

Trump’s embassy shift to Jerusalem sparked deep anger across the Arab world, particularly among Palestinians, who see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. </s> Hundreds of Palestinian mourners on Thursday attended the funeral of 24-year-old Gaza journalist Ahmed Abu Hussein, who was killed by an Israeli military sniper while reporting on a protest at the Gaza border.

This is Ahmed Abu Hussein - a fellow journalist who was bravely covering the Apartheid going on in Palestine right now. Unarmed, non-violent, and clearly marked as a journalist, he was shot & killed by an Israeli long-range sniper. This is a war crime. It's despicable. pic.twitter.com/4WdGTaizq7

Hussein, a photographer for Gaza's Voice of the People radio station, was the second journalist to be killed by Israeli forces since a wave of protests known as the "March of Great Return" began on March 30. Thousands of people have been injured, and at least 40 protesters have been killed.

According to the Associated Press, amateur footage showed that Hussein was wearing a vest and helmet marked "TV" to identify himself as a journalist, when he was shot.

"Protective gear that clearly indicates individuals are members of the press should afford them extra protection—not make them targets," Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told Al Jazeera. "The death of Ahmed Abu Hussein underscores the need for Israeli authorities to urgently scrutinize its policies toward journalists covering protests and take immediate, effective action."

The head of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) gave troops instructions to use force during the protests, which began on the 42nd anniversary of Land Day, marking the deaths of six Palestinian protesters who were killed by Israeli soldiers while protesting settlements.

The organizers of the protests have urged participants to demonstrate peacefully.

Human rights groups have denounced Israel's violent response to the protests.

”We express our outrage over these shootings that may have resulted in unlawful killings and the incomprehensibly high number of injuries sustained," said several U.N. human rights experts in a statement last week. "No evidence has emerged showing that such a situation occurred during the demonstrations that would make the lethal force used legal. The freedoms of association, assembly, and expression are all fundamental rights under international human rights law. These rights are to be given broad protection, and can only be restricted in narrow and exceptional circumstances. Israel must fully observe these rights, and ensure that their approaches to crowd control and demonstrations are in strict accordance with international law.” </s> Israel's live fire use in Gaza protests in first legal test

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military's use of live fire against Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border is facing its first legal test before the Supreme Court.

Six human rights groups asked the court on Monday to restrict or ban the use of live ammunition, after 39 Palestinian were killed and more than 1,600 wounded in weekly border protests over the past month.

The rights groups say rules of engagement of law enforcement apply, under which officers can only resort to lethal force if their lives are in imminent danger. They say the military's use of lethal force against unarmed protesters is unlawful.

Israel's military argues that the border protests are part of a long-running conflict with Gaza's ruling Hamas, which it considers a terror group. Israel says rules of armed conflict apply. </s> Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh has called on the Arab League to sue Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The demand came during a phone call Haniyeh made with Secretary-General of the Cairo-based league, Ahmed Abul-Gheit, to discuss Israeli practices against the Palestinians. Haniyeh underlined the need "to go to the U.N. General Assembly to discuss the [Israeli] crime and form a special investigation commission." his office said in a statement, as reported by Anadolu Agency (AA).

The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) held a session Saturday at the request of Kuwait to discuss the situation on Gaza border, but the Council failed to condemn the Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters. The U.S. declined calls from the U.N. Security Council for an investigation into violence on the Israeli-Gaza border that left 18 Palestinians dead, a U.N. official said Monday.

Speaking at Arab League session, Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab al-Louh accused the U.S. of "encouraging" Israel to continue committing "heinous crimes" against defenseless Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch yesterday accused Israel of "unlawful" excessive force when it responded last week to mass Palestinian protests with live fire. The group issued a report saying that although there was violence at the protest on Friday, like rock throwing and burning tires, there is no evidence that demonstrators "seriously threatened" Israeli soldiers.

Friday was the bloodiest single day in the embattled coastal enclave since a 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein asks Israel to refrain from using lethal force as protests enter their fifth week. The Israeli Defence Forces open fire again, including use of live ammunition.