The Arab League on Thursday called for an international investigation into Israel's killing of dozens of protesters on the Gaza border as its foreign ministers met in Cairo to discuss their response.
"We call for a credible international investigation into the crimes committed by the occupation," Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit said at an extraordinary meeting of the bloc to discuss the violence, called at the request of Saudi Arabia.
Nearly 60 Palestinians were shot dead on Monday during protests coinciding with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. It was the deadliest single day of Israeli-Palestinian violence since the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, which rules Gaza.
"We are facing a state of blatant aggression against international law and legitimacy which was embodied by the US embassy's transfer in the occupying state to Jerusalem," Mr Abul Gheit said.
Altogether Israeli forces have killed some 116 Palestinians since protests along Gaza's border with Israel began six weeks ago. One Israeli soldier was reported wounded. Tens of thousands have taken part in the protests calling for Palestinian refugees to be able to return to homes now inside Israel.
The Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al Maliki called for Arab countries to recall their ambassadors to the United States in response to Washington moving its embassy to Jerusalem.
"There is no harm in Arab states collectively recalling their ambassadors in Washington to their capitals for consultations," Mr Al Maliki said in Cairo.
He also suggested that members of the Arab League summon US ambassadors "to remind them of the Arab rejection" of the US move, which was made despite near universal consensus that the final status of the city should be decided in a final peace settlement between the Palestinians and Israel.
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Read more:
US ambassador walks out on Palestine at UN
Palestinians left with only protests, and their bloody consequences
Stars protest Gaza deaths at Cannes Film Festival
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Palestinians are seeking East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community, as the capital of their future state.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will on Friday host an emergency summit in Istanbul of the world's main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which he said would send a "strong message to the world".
Mr Erdogan, who also announced plans for a pro-Palestinian rally, has exchanged bitter accusations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling Israel an "apartheid state" and ordering the country's ambassador to Turkey to leave.
The protests along the Gaza-Israel border began on March 30 and were supposed to end on May 15, but Hamas officials have said they want them to continue.
Israel hit a Hamas base in an air raid Thursday, saying gunfire from Gaza had targeted its soldiers and damaged a house. No injuries was reported on either side.
The Israeli army said it struck "targets belonging to Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, including terrorist infrastructure and weapons-making facilities".
Palestinian security sources told Agence France-Presse the target was a Hamas base.
The Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo came after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Wednesday said his government was communicating with both sides "so that this bloodshed would stop".
Israel has rejected criticism over Monday's violence, with the United States strongly backing its ally and blaming Hamas for the deaths.
Calls for an independent probe into the deaths have come from many sides, including Britain, Germany, Canada and Switzerland.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the European Union have also called for an independent investigation.
Israel accuses Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, of seeking to use the demonstrations as cover for violence.
It says those approaching the fence have used explosive devices and firebombs, while soldiers have been shot at.
Palestinians and rights groups say protesters are being shot despite posing no threat to Israeli soldiers on the other side of the heavily guarded fence.
Hamas denies Israeli accusations of orchestrating the demonstrations, saying it supports them but that they were organised independently.
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Read more: Wherever we go, whatever we have achieved, Palestinians can never forget our homeland
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The specs: 2018 Maxus T60
Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder
Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm
Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
TRAP
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
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