5/6/2024–|Last updated: 6/5/202410:36 AM (Mecca time)
Today, Wednesday, extremist Israelis begin celebrating the anniversary of the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967 through a march that the occupation police allowed to pass through Damascus Gate, amid an escalating atmosphere due to the aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that the Israeli police mobilized 3,000 of its members to protect an annual march by extremists and Israeli settlers this afternoon, known as the “Flags March,” and the police allowed it to pass through Damascus Gate in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem.
Thousands of extremists participate in the march. It begins in West Jerusalem and heads to Al-Wad Street in the Old City, all the way to the Buraq Wall. It usually includes attacks on shops and Palestinians in the Old City.
Yesterday, Tuesday, the far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, announced his decision to participate in the march.
The leader of the “Jewish Power” party, Ben Gvir, told Israeli Army Radio, “Tomorrow we will walk through the Damascus Gate, and the Jews will ascend (storm) to the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque).”
He continued, “All the generals (during the war) in Gaza told me that in every house they enter they see a picture of Al-Aqsa. We have to hit them.”
For its part, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said that the flag march in Jerusalem is “an aggression against our people and their sanctities,” warning the Israeli occupation “against its criminal policy toward Al-Aqsa.”
Tensions over the march are increasing this year in light of the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since last October 7, which left more than 119,000 Palestinians martyred and wounded – most of them children and women – and about 10,000 missing.