Israel Faces Outcry over Gaza Killings: Daily Brief

Israel faces an international outcry after its forces shot and killed 58 Palestinians and wounded scores of others who had gathered at the Gaza border fence to protest against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem. It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since the 2014 war. The US nevertheless blocked a UN Security Council statement calling for an independent inquiry into the killings. Meanwhile, the protests continue.

Human Rights Watch today launched a Human Rights Guide for Reporters covering the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia which starts on June 14. The guide looks beyond the state-of-the-art stadiums and shiny new hotels and details the numerous human rights concerns surrounding Russia’s preparations for the Cup.

As Russia prepares for the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2018, the daughter of a murdered Chechen human rights defender and former head of leading human rights organization Memorial has pleaded with Russia’s President Putin to free Memorial's Chechnya director, Oyub Titiev. Chechnya’s capital Grozny is slated as a home base for Egypt’s national team during the tournament.

Three families linked to an affiliate group of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS), coordinated and carried out suicide bombings in Surabaya, Indonesia which killed at least 12 people plus the attackers. The families used their own children as suicide bombers.

First Iran violently suppressed a protest by the Gonabadi Dervish community and detained hundreds. Now it threatens to execute one of its members.

Islamist militants in Pakistan have intensified their attacks on girls’ schools as part of a campaign to have them closed down. The attacks exacerbate the challenges the country’s education system faces already, such as low enrollment rates, gender bias and a lack of trained teachers.

The government of President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua has promised its people the “truth” about who killed and injured scores of protesters who took to the streets last month. But his government seems to be determined to deliver just the opposite.

Faced with an increasingly repressive political and legal environment in Hungary, the Open Society Foundations is closing its offices in Budapest. The George Soros-funded group has advocated for free expression and civic participation in Hungary since communist times. But Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has vowed to push a “Stop Soros bill” through parliament, which will make it even more difficult for government critics to speak up.