In the seven weeks leading up to 15 May, the day Palestinians observe as ‘Nakba Day’, meaning ‘Day of Catastrophe’, Gaza’s terrorist rulers Hamas led a series of protests under the ‘March of Return’ banner.
Gaza own goal
However, they effectively shot themselves in the foot by damaging gas and fuel pipelines intended for their own use during ongoing violent protests over the right of refugees to return to the land they had voluntarily vacated in 1948 in response to pleas from surrounding Arab nations.Tragically, on the day the US embassy opened, around 65 of approximately 40,000 rioters were killed by IDF forces as they defended their borders from Molotov cocktails attached to kites and other explosives.
While the IDF had dropped leaflets into Gaza, urging its citizens to stay away from the border, a captured fighter told his Israeli interrogators that Hamas had been urging them to go there, while known terrorists stayed further back to avoid capture. Some reports claimed Hamas offered payment.
Christian organisations urged prayers against Palestinian violence both in and around Jerusalem and also against uprisings along the Gaza Strip where women and children were being used as human shields.