--- title: White House Says Hamas to Blame for Gaza Strip Deaths description: The White House blamed Palestinian militant group Hamas after Israeli troops in Gaza shot and killed more than 50 Palestinians. canonical: https://time.com/5276896/hamas-gaza-strip-israel-white-house-raj-shah/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-14T19:28:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:16:22.976Z article:section: Politics og:title: The White House Blamed Hamas After Israeli Troops Shot and Killed Palestinians og:description: "Israel has the right to defend itself." og:url: https://time.com/5276896/hamas-gaza-strip-israel-white-house-raj-shah/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbfedee889912e035/698930588fd2ee4e6f35b9c2/gaza-protest-israel-embassy-jerusalem.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: gaza-protest-israel-embassy-jerusalem og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The White House Blamed Hamas After Israeli Troops Shot and Killed Palestinians twitter:description: "Israel has the right to defend itself." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbfedee889912e035/698930588fd2ee4e6f35b9c2/gaza-protest-israel-embassy-jerusalem.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The White House Blamed Hamas After Israeli Troops Shot and Killed Palestinians  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 14, 2018 7:28 PM UTC  Palestinians run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest against the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 14, 2018. Palestinians run for cover from Israeli fire and tear gas during a protest against the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, at the Israel-Gaza border in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 14, 2018.Ibraheem Abu Mustafa—Reuters  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 14, 2018 7:28 PM UTC The White House blamed Palestinian militant group Hamas after Israeli troops in [Gaza](http://time.com/5276048/gaza-conflict-history/) shot and killed more than 50 Palestinians during protests over the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Speaking at the daily press briefing, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah said that Hamas bears responsibility for the deaths because it planned the protests where Palestinians were shot. “The responsibility for these tragic deaths rests squarely with Hamas,” he said. “Israel has the right to defend itself.” At least 52 Palestinians were killed and thousands injured in Gaza Monday as the Trump Administration relocated the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, [recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel](http://time.com/5276185/gaza-protests-violence-liberation/). The Israeli army said that at least 35,000 Gazans amassed at the border, and that protesters threw Molotov cocktails, burned tires and threw stones at soldiers, [according to CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/14/middleeast/gaza-protests-intl/index.html). Moving the embassy is “a recognition of reality,” Shah said. “For decades we’ve walked on eggshells pretending Jerusalem isn’t the capital of Israel, when it obviously is.” **Read More:** [_What to Know About the Jerusalem Embassy Opening and the Palestinian Protests_](http://time.com/5276129/jerusalem-embassy-gaza-protests-what-to-know/) When pressed on whether Israel bears any responsibility for the violence, Shah reiterated, “We believe Hamas bears the responsibility.” He referred to the Palestinian protests as a “rather cynical exploitation of the situation” and “a gruesome and unfortunate propaganda attempt.” Shah’s briefing echoed White House senior advisor Jared Kushner’s speech from Israel earlier Monday, when [he said](http://time.com/5276274/jared-kushner-jerusalem-palestinians/) the protestors were “part of the problem and not part of the solution.” Both Kushner and Shah said they don’t think the violence will affect the Trump Administration’s push for peace in the Middle East. “The peace plan will be brought forward at the appropriate time,” Shah said. “The actions today, both the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem and these tragedies in Southern Israel, we don’t think will impact the peace plan.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5276896/hamas-gaza-strip-israel-white-house-raj-shah/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5276896/hamas-gaza-strip-israel-white-house-raj-shah/"},"headline":"The White House Blamed Hamas After Israeli Troops Shot and Killed Palestinians","datePublished":"2018-05-14T19:28:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:16:22.976Z","description":"\"Israel has the right to defend itself\"","url":"https://time.com/5276896/hamas-gaza-strip-israel-white-house-raj-shah/","keywords":["White House","Foreign Policy","Israel","Middle East","Jerusalem","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbfedee889912e035/698930588fd2ee4e6f35b9c2/gaza-protest-israel-embassy-jerusalem.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbfedee889912e035/698930588fd2ee4e6f35b9c2/gaza-protest-israel-embassy-jerusalem.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gaza-protest-israel-embassy-jerusalem","caption":"gaza-protest-israel-embassy-jerusalem","creditText":"Ibraheem Abu Mustafa—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5276896/hamas-gaza-strip-israel-white-house-raj-shah/","name":"The White House Blamed Hamas After Israeli Troops Shot and Killed Palestinians"}}]}] ```