Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces Friday left one person dead after calls for a "day of rage", as Washington stood isolated at a UN Security Council debate on US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Israel carried out an air strike on the Gaza Strip after a rocket was fired from the territory, with Palestinian sources reporting 10 people wounded.
In the diplomatic fallout from the deeply controversial declaration, a Palestinian official warned that president Mahmud Abbas could refuse to meet US Vice President Mike Pence on his visit to the region later this month. The Security Council held an emergency session in New York to discuss Trump's move, which has drawn near universal condemnation, including from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres.
Five European countries on the council insisted the new US policy was not consistent with past UN resolutions, including one that considers east Jerusalem to be Israeli-occupied. But the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, tried to assure delegates that the White House was serious about the search for peace.
"Let me again assure you, the president and this administration remain committed to the peace process," she said.
The meeting was convened by eight of the 14 non-US members of the council but was largely symbolic - no vote on a resolution was planned, as the US has veto power. Abbas hailed the international concern, according to a statement carried by official Palestinian news agency WAFA. "Mahmud Abbas welcomed the international condemnation of the American decision to consider the city of Jerusalem the capital of Israel, which occurred at the United Nations Security Council," it said.
Whether violence would spread and spiral both in the Palestinian territories and elsewhere was being closely watched, with Friday marking a second day of unrest. Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, had called for a "day of rage" and its leader Ismail Haniya for the start of a new intifada, or uprising.
The Palestinian killed in clashes along Israel's border with Gaza was the first death linked to protests since Trump's declaration on Wednesday. A second Palestinian in Gaza was in "very critical" condition after being shot in the head during the clashes.
The Israeli army said around 4,500 Palestinians "participated in violent riots" along the Gaza-Israel border. It said that troops shot at "dozens" of people along the frontier, but did not specify how many were wounded. "During the riots soldiers fired selectively towards dozens of main instigators and hits were confirmed," an English-language statement said. On Friday evening, Palestinians in Gaza fired a rocket at Israel which was shot down by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system, the army said.
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