JERUSALEM — A joyous ceremony marked the inauguration of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, a largely symbolic step that nonetheless is of deep political significance, here and in the Palestinian territories, as well as farther away.

Amid the happy bustle of about 800 guests, as Jared Kushner spoke, the controversial evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress blessed the occasion and President Trump delivered a prerecorded video address, there was little indication of what was unfolding less than 60 miles away on the border between Israel and Gaza. There, protests against the embassy opening and Israel’s continued blockade of the Palestinian enclave were met with gunfire by Israeli troops. Dozens of Palestinians were shot dead and thousands were injured.

[Israelis kill more than 50 Palestinians in Gaza protests, health officials say]

In his video address Monday, Trump said that he was still hopeful for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, despite almost universal criticism of the embassy move from some of the United States’s closest allies in Europe, from Arab nations and from the Palestinians.