File Photo: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (Photo: Ahram)
Iran's foreign minister on Saturday condemned the fatal shooting of 16 Gazan protesters by Israeli troops.
The protesters were among thousands who marched along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday and set up protest camps at the start of a six-week campaign for the return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948.
The week-long Passover festival began at sundown on Friday.
"On the eve of Passover (of all days), which commemorates God liberating Prophet Moses and his people from tyranny, Zionist tyrants murder peaceful Palestinian protesters -- whose land they have stolen -- as they march to escape their cruel and inhuman apartheid bondage. Shameful," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.
Iran has long been a supporter of Islamist group Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.
Friday was the bloodiest single day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Israeli war in Gaza.
UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an "independent and transparent investigation".
*This report was edited by Ahram Online
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