The Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, has called on the UN Security Council to hold “a neutral and transparent investigation” into the killing of unarmed Palestinians near the Gaza border during the Great Return March demonstrations, which have been taking place every Friday since 30 March.

"It seems that the Israeli occupying forces are not restraining themselves, they're not listening to anyone and they are continuing with this massacre," Mansour told reporters in New York.

Mansour also said in a letter addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, that the UN needed to take the “necessary procedures for bringing criminals to justice, and to stop more souls’ loss."

The protesters are demanding that the decade-long siege on Gaza is ended, and for their right of return.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that at least 33 people have been killed and more than 4,000 have been wounded in the demonstrations, which kicked off following a request from Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has imposed a restricted siege on Gaza since Hamas took over the city in 2007. Since then, Israel has waged three military offensives against the coastal enclave, where than two million Palestinians live under extreme conditions.