Trump's Jerusalem Move Was Rejected by the U.N., and Now Hamas Is Calling for a 'Red, Bloody Day' in West Bank

Hamas has called for a "red, bloody day" against Israel on Friday after the U.N.'s member states voted to condemn Trump's December 6 decision to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group's hard-line chief, gave a televised address on Thursday and called on "the people of Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Palestinians everywhere to spring into action on Friday so it will be a red, bloody day for the occupation," according to a translation by the Times of Israel.

"I call for turning Friday into a decisive day in the struggle of our people to bring down the decision of Trump," he continued.

Sinwar called for attacks against Israeli civilians living in the West Bank, where thousands of Israeli Jews have settled in outposts that much of the international community consider illegal under international law. He also told Palestinians to head to the positions of Israeli soldiers and attack them. Hamas has been calling for a new intifada, or uprising, since Trump's decision.

East Jerusalem hosts the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount, and the third-holiest site in Islam, the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary. The Palestinians have earmarked it as the capital of any future state.

A wave of Palestinian protests took place Friday, with some turning into clashes. At least two Palestinians died in Gaza from Israeli fire, and at least 20 were wounded.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007 and continues to oppose Israel's military rule over the West Bank and its blockade of the Gaza Strip alongside Egypt. It continues to seek the destruction of Israel and calls for the "liberation" of "historic Palestine," referring to what is now modern-day Israel after its creation, in 1948.

The Israeli government and the Israeli far right have celebrated Trump's decision as a move that they say recognizes reality: that in their view, the city is already entirely theirs, and was so thousands of years ago.

But the majority of the international community rejected Trump's move in a United Nations vote on Thursday, overwhelmingly supporting a nonbinding resolution that calls on him to reverse the move.

On Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a Christmas message that condemned Trump's decision and said that his plan for peace was "insulting" to the "message of Jesus."

Abbas said that Palestinians would never accept a peace plan from the U.S. while plans were in motion for the U.S. embassy to move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, effectively recognizing the ancient city as Israel's capital.

"This time every year, the souls of billions of people turn to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the messenger of love, peace and justice," Abbas wrote in his letter.

"Bethlehem, the birthplace of hope, continues to be affected by Israeli policies. Regretfully, the U.S. has decided to reward such policies by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"It is because of this U.S. decision to support illegality and the blatant violations of our rights that we will not accept the U.S. as the mediator in the peace process nor are we going to accept any plan from the U.S. side. The U.S. chose to be biased."