“As someone who lives in Jerusalem and who cares about this city and the people who live in it, this feels like a dangerous game that Trump is playing with our lives,” said Maya Rosen, an American-born resident of the city. 

 Ayman Odeh, leader of the Arab faction in the Knesset, drew a direct line between the embassy opening and the deaths in Gaza. 

“The opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem and its grand ceremony is part of the same policy that has claimed the lives of dozens of Gazans,” he said. “Today, there is nothing to celebrate. The opening of the embassy is yet another provocative step that signals the destruction of the notion of peace.” 

Former peace negotiator Tzipi Livni, now a member of the official opposition in Israel, said the embassy opening was bittersweet. 

“This is a happy day for us in Israel but simultaneously we have to take care of the situation in Gaza,” she said.

[As Ivanka and Jared join embassy party in Jerusalem, Gaza braces for violence