Egypt, Jordan FMs rap Israel's aggression in Gaza

The Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers have denounced the latest Israel's aggression against the Gazans during Friday's Land Day peaceful demonstration, urging the international community to protect the Palestinians' rights.

"We condemn the Israeli aggression against the innocent [Palestinians] who went out to practice their right and peacefully express their refusal of the occupation," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukri on Sunday in Cairo.

He added that peace and security are the common goals of all countries in the Arab world, saying, "However, peace and security cannot be achieved through killing and oppression of the occupation."

He said the so-called two-state solution is the only way out of the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and stressed the importance of recognizing the Palestinians' right for a state in order to advance the peace process.

Safadi added that Israel's "unjustified violence" against the Palestinian people was a "dangerous sign of a very difficult time" and called for collective cooperation to solve the crisis through political channels.

On Friday, at least 17 Palestinians lost their lives and more than 1,400 others sustained injuries when Israeli military forces opened fire on thousands of protesters who had flocked to a sit-in near the Gaza border.

Friday's demonstrations turned violent after Israeli forces used tear gas and live fire to force back demonstrators who had approached within a few hundred meters of the heavily-fortified fence.

The rallies coincided with the 42nd anniversary of Land Day, which commemorates the murder of six Palestinians by Israeli forces in 1976.

The Egyptian foreign minister, for his part, said the international community must bear responsibility vis-à-vis the recent crackdown on the Palestinians and discuss it in the Human Rights Council.

"How are we able to discuss human rights when Palestinian rights are violated in such manners? The international community has to rise to protect Palestinian rights and to work towards peace," Shoukry added.

Israeli troops on Sunday wounded 49 Palestinians during fresh anti-occupation mass rallies in the Gaza Strip amid global outrage over Tel Aviv's use of force that marked the most violent day in the blockaded coastal sliver in recent years.

PressTV-Dozens injured in fresh Gaza rallies after carnage

Israeli troops wound 49 Palestinians during fresh anti-occupation mass rallies in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that the Israeli forces had opened fire at protesters in different Gaza cities, among them Jabalia, Rafah, Khan Yunis and Beit Hanoun.

The Return rallies culminate on May 15, the day Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven out of their homes in 1948, the year Israel was created.

On Friday, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting over the situation in Gaza, but the US blocked a draft statement which urged restraint and called for an "independent and transparent investigation" into Friday's violence.

PressTV-US blocks UN Security Council statement on Israel violence

The US has blocked a draft UN Security Council statement, which called for an investigation of Israel’s use of deadly force against Palestinians in Gaza.

The draft statement, proposed by Kuwait, also expressed "grave concern at the situation at the border" fence between Gaza and the occupied lands and reaffirmed "the right to peaceful protest."

It further called "for respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including protection of civilians."

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