Qatar urges protection for Palestinians after deaths

Qatar has called on the international community to provide protection for the Palestinian people, following the killing of at least 17 people by Israeli gunfire on border of the Gaza Strip.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Qatari government called for piling pressure on the Israeli government "to halt its oppressive practices in the occupied Palestinian territories", according to the official QNA news agency.

It reiterated support for the legitimate Palestinian rights, including the right to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

On Friday, tens of thousands of Gazans had converged on the strip's roughly 45-kilometer-long eastern border with Israel to reaffirm their right to return to their ancestral homes in historical Palestine.

At least 17 protesters were killed and hundreds injured by Israeli gunfire during the rallies, which marked the beginning of a planned six-week protest that will culminate on May 15, which will mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment -- an event Palestinians refer to as the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe".

Demonstrators demand that Palestinian refugees be granted the "right of return" to their towns and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.