Israeli forces kill seven Palestinian protesters on Gaza border: Gaza medics

GAZA: At least seven Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli security forces confronting one of the largest Palestinian demonstrations along the Israel-Gaza border in recent years, Gaza medical officials said.

One of the dead was aged 16 and most of the casualties were struck by gunfire, according to Palestinian medics who estimated the number of wounded at around 500 by mid-afternoon.

The Israeli military said that its troops had used “riot dispersal means and firing towards main instigators” and that some of the demonstrators were “rolling burning tires and hurling stones” at the border fence and at soldiers.

Read More: Israeli police question Netanyahu in telecom corruption case

White House hosts meeting on Gaza crisis without Palestinians present

The White House on March 14 hosted 19 nations, including Israel and Arab Gulf states, to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority boycotted the meeting, angered by the Trump administration’s policies on Jerusalem.

U.S. President Donald Trump reversed decades of US policy in December, when he decided to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. This incensed Palestinians and other U.S. allies.

The administration is also putting the final touches on a Middle East peace plan, and U.S. officials said the conference was integral to future negotiations.

“Fixing Gaza is necessary to achieve a peace agreement,” one of the senior administration officials said. The officials stressed that the multi-nation humanitarian and reconstruction effort remains in beginning stages.