The UN Security Council plans to meet overnight NZT to discuss violence along the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, following the deadliest day there since a 2014 war.

Kuwait called for the session after more than 50 Palestinians were killed and over 1,200 wounded by Israeli gunfire amid mass protests on Monday.
Israel said its troops were defending its border and accused Hamas militants of trying to attack under the cover of the protest.

It was not immediately clear what might come out of the council session. No joint statement or action followed a similar meeting after protests in March, and two UN diplomats said members couldn’t reach unanimous agreement on Monday on issuing a proposed statement circulated by Kuwait.

The draft statement, obtained by The Associated Press, would have expressed “outrage and sorrow” at the killings, sought an “independent and transparent investigation” and called on all sides to exercise restraint.

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Supreme Court on Monday heard the first legal challenge of the military’s open-fire rules, after 39 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,700 wounded by Israeli fire during mass protests on the Gaza border over the past month.

The hearing came amid growing international criticism of Israel for its use of lethal force and a mounting casualty toll since the weekly protests, organized by Gaza’s ruling Hamas, began in late March. Organizers say the mass demonstrations are to continue for at least two more weeks, with some threatening a mass border breach.

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Palestinian protesters run after burning tires and rolling them toward Israeli soldiers (Photo by AP)

Palestinians were streaming to tent camps along Gaza’s border with Israel for the third of what are planned to be weekly mass protests until mid-May.

The marches are organised by Gaza’s Islamic militant group Hamas, but turnout is also being driven by desperation among the territory’s two million residents.

Marchers protest against a decade-old blockade and assert what they say is a “right of return” of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh this week renewed a pledge that the marches would pave the way for a return of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel.

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