JERUSALEM: Hundreds of Israeli colonists Wednesday morning continued to gather and deploy in Bab al-Amud (Damascus Gate), one of the most famous gates of the Old City of occupied Jerusalem, in preparation for the provocative “flag march” that is going to be held today’s evening.

Hundreds of colonists headed to the Old City from Bab al-Sahira (Herod’s Gate), raising Israeli flags, and performing loud songs and dances, to mark the Israeli occupation of the city of Jerusalem.

Yesterday, Israeli occupation authorities turned the occupied city of Jerusalem and its old town into a military zone under the pretext of securing the provocative ‘flag march”.

The occupation authorities sent in more than 3,000 policemen to occupied Jerusalem, and set up military checkpoints on the main roads, announcing that they would close major routes and push more of their police forces into the city on the eve of the so-called ‘flag march,’ which will pass through the neighborhoods of Old Jerusalem and land in al-Buraq Wall Square
.

The Jerusalem governorate said that ‘the march of flags in the streets of Jerusalem is an assault on the status quo in the occupied city, and a continuation of the Israeli occupation’s measures aimed at Judaizing it.’

“Israel is exploiting the aggression against Palestinian people in Gaza to advance the Judaization of the Holy City,” it added.

It pointed out that “what the extremist Minister Ben Gvir said about his intention to participate in the march and his calls to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque is a provocation to the feelings of millions of Muslims and a blatant attack on the Hashemite custodianship in Jerusalem.”

It is noteworthy that 4,277 colonists stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in May, according to data from the Islamic Endowments Department in Jerusalem.

The rate of raids by extremist colonialists into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem has increased significantly since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7th.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA