LIVE: Two dead, hundreds injured as 'day of rage' protests erupt across Palestine
After 70 years, Donald Trump did on Wednesday what no previous US president has done – recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The announcement has sparked anger and protest across the Middle East while being welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and supporters of Israel.
Leaders in Gaza and the West Bank have called for a strong response, with protests in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Israeli soldiers were deployed in anticipation of unrest.
We’ll be bringing you live updates here.
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Photo: Israeli soldiers continue to fire rubber bullets and tear gas on Palestinian protesters in Gaza today (MEE/Hind Khoudary)
Live Updates
Here are some of the slogans being chanted outside the Old City in East Jerusalem:
►“Listen, Bin Salman, Palestinians will never be humiliated” and “Fall, fall Al Saud, we say it from Damascus gate.”
►Other slogans draw on the war in Yemen and Syrian: “From Palestine to Yemen, a free people never surrender,” and “from Palestine to Syria, people want freedom.”
Palestinians at Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem gathered for the Al-Asr prayer.
Clashes with Israeli security forces occurred on Friday after thousands of people finished prayers in Al-Aqsa mosque.
The Israeli army confirmed it had shot two people along the border, including one Palestinian who was killed, accusing them of being "main instigators" of "violent riots".
Via AFP
Today also happens to be the 30th anniversary of the outbreak of the first intifada.
Palestinians have been telling Chloé Benoist about their memories from that time, and what lessons can be learnt from the period, which one participant referred to as a “beautiful dream” of Palestinian unity and action.
“It was an amazing period from my point of view,” remembers Khawla al-Azraq, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council.
“It was a real struggle because it was popular, everyone was involved, there was a meaning to what we did,” she told MEE.
Abu Ahmad, who was imprisoned during the first intifada, said he was hopeful that Palestinian youth could succeed where the generation of the first intifada failed.
“We had a beautiful dream at the time, but we could not compare it to the outside world, because we were not able to travel, we did not have the internet,” he said.
Read more here: Thirty years after first intifada, Palestinians look to past for fresh lessons
The Palestinian Ministry of Health has reported that Mahmoud al-Masri, a 30-year-old man, was killed by Israeli forces in the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Red Crescent has reported that 300 Palestinians have been injured during clashes in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem.
MEE correspondent Yumna Patel reports that the majority of chants heard in Bethlehem today have been directed towards America.
"People have been chanting that America is the source of all problems, that this decision makes no sense and that this is the beginning," said Yumna.
Ten people have been injured in clashes in the Gaza buffer zone according to MEE correspondent Hind Khoudary.
One Palestinian man was shot in the neck with a rubber bullet with many being critically injured.
Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, said "moving the US embassy will probably take more than two years" in a press conference in Paris with Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister.
Le Drian affirmed the French government's stance, saying "it refuses Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to discuss the ongoing situation in Jerusalem and Syrian civil war with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Via Reuters
Thousands of protesters across Afghanistan are condeming Trump’s decision.
Some burnt effigies of Trump, as well as American and Israeli flags, in Kabul, and a few dozen tried to reach the heavily barricaded US embassy, but were soon pushed back by Afghan security forces.
Around 1,000 protested in Kabul; over 2,500 in the western city of Herat, and roughly 500 in Kunduz, in the northeast, according to AFP.
They join protesters today in Iraq, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey and Somalia.
Here's a breakdown of the 217 people who have been injured in the West Bank and Jerusalem:
►Seven injured by live gunfire.
►45 by rubber bullets.
►162 from tear gas inhalation.
►Three from being struck by tear gas canisters.
Good afternoon,
Here's a lunchtime round-up of what's happened so far as the situation continues to worsen across Israel and Palestine:
► 217 people have been injured in the West Bank and Gaza during today's clashes according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
►Palestinians continued to rally in Jerusalem, West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
►Thousands protested in Egypt, Turkey and others to oppose Trump's plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
►Volleys of tear gas have been fired at protesters in Bethlehem with one Palestinian being taken to hospital for tear gas inhalation.
►People have called for the "fall of the House of Saud" during protests in Jerusalem.
Later today:
►The UN Security Council is planning to meet later today at 4pm GMT to discuss the US recognition of Jerusalem.
►Protests due to take place in London outside the US embassy at 6pm GMT.
The situation inside Bethlehem continues to remain tense. MEE correspondent Yumna Patel has provided us with an update:
200 protesters are still scattered around the main road and a few young Palestinian men on the front line have been setting fire to bins.
Israeli soldiers have just fired rounds of rubber bullets. I've seen a young boy handing out tissues sprayed with perfume to help protect from the tear gas while a young Palestinian man in his teens passed out from inhaling tear gas.
You can follow Yumna here on Twitter...