Jewish settlers hold provocative 'flag march' to mark Jerusalem occupation

Jewish far-right groups have organised a provocative flag march in occupied East Jerusalem to mark Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967.

According to eyewitnesses, the march reached the Damascus Gate, a main entrance to Jerusalem’s Old City, with illegal Jewish settlers gathering provocatively in the city’s Muslim Quarter on Wednesday.

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian residents in Jerusalem’s Old City during the march, witnesses said.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party took part in the march.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he will also participate in the march.

Participants in the march typically wave Israeli flags and chant racist slogans against Arabs, such as "Death to Arabs" and "Burn their village.”

Israeli police deployed 3,000 officers in the occupied East Jerusalem ahead of the march and cleared Palestinians from Damascus Gate.

Hamas condemned the planned flag march and considered it an aggression against the Palestinian people and their sanctities.

In a statement, Hamas said the flag march "confirms the (Israeli) occupation approach to Judaize the (Jerusalem) sanctities," and urged Palestinian "mass mobilisation to confront the Al Aqsa Mosque occupation plans."

Storming Al Aqsa

Hundreds of illegal Jewish settlers have stormed the Al Aqsa Mosque complex to mark the 57th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem. According to the Jordan-run Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem, 812 settlers broke into the Al Aqsa Mosque on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the settlers tried to perform Talmudic rituals in the mosque's complex.

Palestinians hold firm to East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for state, citing international resolutions that do not recognize Israel's occupation of the city in 1967 or its illegal annexation in 1981.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against Gaza after an attack by the Hamas group on October 7, 2023.

At least 527 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,000 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of “genocide ” at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah in southern Gaza, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.