The United States has become the first country with an embassy to Israel located in Jerusalem, the disputed city claimed as a capital by both Israeli and Palestinian people.
The new embassy was dedicated on Monday in a ceremony attended by Israeli leaders and senior White House advisers.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are protesting the move, and dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli armed forces, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Egypt and Jordan have denounced the killings and warned of the risk of escalating violence.
For many years the U.S. — like the rest of the world's countries — have declined to put the embassy in Jerusalem, saying that the status of the city needs to be decided in peace talks with the Palestinians.
President Trump made a campaign promise to relocate the embassy. He was not the first president to make such a promise, but he is the first to actually make the move.
David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, led the controversial dedication.
"Today's historic event is attributed to the vision, the courage and the moral clarity of one person to whom we owe an enormous and eternal debt of gratitude, President Donald J. Trump," Friedman said, prompting a lengthy standing ovation.
Friedman later compared Trump to Abraham Lincoln, who expressed the desire to visit Jerusalem.
Donald Trump was not in attendance, but recorded a video in which he told the audience, "Congratulations."
"It's been a long time coming," he said. "Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like any other sovereign nation, to determine its own capital."
"May there be peace," Trump said. "May God bless this embassy."
The audience included Israeli leaders, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and major Trump donor Sheldon Adelson, as well as a number of American Jewish and Christian religious leaders.
Republican senators Dean Heller of Nevada, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah were in attendance, as well as a number of Republican representatives.
The new embassy is located in an already existing consular building.
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