Monday’s brutal Israeli bloodshed, which took place as the United States opened its new embassy in Jerusalem (Quds), was the bloodiest for Palestinians since the 2014 Gaza conflict. 

The death toll rose to 60 overnight after an eight-month-old baby died from tear gas that her family said she inhaled at a protest camp on Monday. More than 2,700 Palestinians were also injured by gunfire or tear gas. 

Palestinian leaders have called Monday’s events a massacre, and the Israeli tactic of using live fire against the protesters has drawn worldwide concern and condemnation. 

Israel has said it is acting in self-defense to defend its borders and communities. Its main ally the United States has backed that stance, with both claiming that Hamas, the resistance group that rules the coastal enclave, instigated the violence. 

There were fears of further bloodshed on Tuesday as Palestinians planned a further protest to mark the “Nakba”, or “Catastrophe”. 

That is the day Palestinians lament the creation of Israel in 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes by the occupiers. 

A six-week campaign of border protests dubbed “The Great March of Return” has revived calls for refugees to have the right of return to their former lands, which now lie inside Israel. 

It was unclear whether large crowds would turn up at the border on Tuesday for the climax to the campaign after the heavy fatalities suffered on Monday. 

Palestinian medical officials say that 104 Gazans have now been killed since the start of the protests and nearly 11,000 people wounded, about 3,500 of them hit by live fire. No Israeli casualties have been reported. 

Israeli troops backed by tanks deployed along the border again on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The area was relatively quiet early in the day, with many Gazans at the funerals. Protesters are expected to go to the border later. 

In Geneva, the UN human rights office condemned the “appalling deadly violence” by Israeli forces and said it was extremely worried about what might happen later.