Our live coverage has ended. Scroll through the posts below to read about the protests.
Palestinian mourn dead in Gaza as protests continue
By James Masters and Nick Thompson, CNN
Updated 4:29 p.m. ET, May 16, 2018
30 Posts
Sort by
Netanyahu to France's Macron: "Israel will protect its security interests"
From CNN’S Oren Liebermann, Michael Schwartz, Natalie Gallón and Saskya Vandoorne
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that “Israel will protect its security interests,” adding that “no country is prepared to allow threats against its sovereignty,” according to a readout of the statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
In a separate message, an Élysée Palace source in France said that on the call, Macron expressed his concerns with the situation in Gaza.
He condemned the violence and stressed "the importance of protecting the civilian population and the right to demonstrate peacefully.”
Macron also reaffirmed "the importance of dialogue to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process,” the Élysée source said.
Turkey's president says US is "contributing to the conflict" in the Middle East
From CNN’s Jamie Gray in London
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of “contributing to the conflict” and of encouraging Israel’s violent actions.
“With this endeavor the US not only ignored the resolutions of the UN and international law but also refrained from playing the mediating role in the settlement of the dispute between two countries and instead the US introduced itself as contributing to the conflict,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London on Tuesday.
“The unfortunate policies of the United States and the Israeli occupation and violent actions have been encouraged by the discretion of the United States.”
Erdogan went on to say that just because Israel was stronger, it doesn't mean it was right.
"Israel in our point of view is not right and Israel is an occupant power,” he said.
Erdogan continued: “Israel is the occupant of a vast land. This is unacceptable.”
Two killed in border clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops
From CNN's Ameera Ahmad
Two Palestinians have been killed in clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli troops around the fence that separates Gaza and Israel, the Palestinian Ministry of Health says. 160 people have been injured, the Ministry says.
On Monday at least 60 people, including eight children, were killed during clashes along the border fence between Israel and Gaza, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Human Rights Watch slams "silence and inaction" at UN Security Council
From CNN’s Richard Roth
Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, just sent the following statement after the US blocked a United Nations Security Council action on Gaza.
“In a now habitual move, the US blocked the Security Council from calling for a UN investigation into the situation in Gaza, sending the message that Israeli security forces’ calculated killings of protesters will come with no cost. The Security Council's silence and inaction will only encourage future Israeli abuses in Gaza and further undermine US credibility by highlighting US double standards as it seeks to mobilize the Council to hold abusers to account in crises like Syria and Myanmar.”
Video shows Palestinians shooting down Israeli tear gas drone
Palestinians shot down an Israeli tear gas drone moments after tear gas was released, CNN video shows. The footage captured the drone coming down and Palestinians cheering as it hit the ground. This was in Gaza.
Here's the clip:
Palestinian government: Israel and US bear "responsibility for loss of lives"
From Abeer Salman, Jerusalem
The Palestinian government says Israel and the US should bear the “responsibility for the loss of lives” and the “brutal massacre” in Gaza.
The government, which held its weekly meeting Tuesday, called for the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the “crimes committed by Israeli armed forces against the Palestinians”.
The government also criticized Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria for participating in the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
Merkel expresses concern over Gaza violence in call with Netanyahu
From CNN’s Nadine Schmidt in Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her “concerns about the escalation of violence” in Gaza, in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, her spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
According to Seibert, Merkel also told Netanyahu she understands “the security concerns of Israel”.
“The right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly should not be abused to provoke unrest”, his statement reads. “Violence should not be a means to enforce political goals”.
The German Chancellor also addressed the Iran nuclear deal, stressing that Germany, the UK and Britain are ‘’bound by the nuclear agreement with Iran as long as Iran continues to honour its obligations under the agreement’’.
Both leaders have expressed their concern about Iran's ballistic missile program, as well as Iran's destabilizing role in the region.
The statement concluded that Merkel condemned the recent Iranian attacks on Israeli military positions on the Golan Heights.
UK calls for investigation into Israeli actions in Gaza
From Nada Bashir in London
The British government will support an investigation into the use of force by the Israeli military against Palestinian protesters at the Gaza border fence, a UK Foreign Office official told the House of Commons Tuesday.
Alistair Burt, the Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign Office, said the UK was working “urgently” with the UN towards an inquiry into Israeli violence towards Palestinian protesters, which has so far left 60 dead, including eight children.
“The United Kingdom has been clear in calling for, urgently, a need to establish the facts of what happened, including why such a volume of live fire was used. We are supportive of an independent, transparent investigation,” Burt told members of parliament Tuesday.