Israelis mark Jerusalem Day amid renewed Gaza offensive

Thousands of Israeli nationalists marched Wednesday through annexed east Jerusalem as authorities deployed police and tensions with Palestinians soared nearly eight months into the Gaza war.

The so-called Jerusalem Day flag march commemorates the Israeli army's capture in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war of the city's eastern sector home to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site, which Jews call the Temple Mount.

Thousands of Jewish nationalists, including far-right activists, marched through predominantly Arab neighbourhoods of the Old City, waving Israeli national flags, dancing and occasionally shouting inflammatory or racist slogans.


"This is my country. I am the owner here. I'm the boss here, there is no Palestine," screamed a participant as he marched past a group of journalists.

From early on Wednesday, police set up barriers near Damascus Gate after announcing plans to deploy more than 3,000 officers during the day.

Most shops in the Old City were closed before the march started as streets slowly emptied of Palestinians and filled with young Israelis, some of whom carried weapons.

Young people waving large Israeli flags and chanting "The people of Israel live" were seen near Jaffa Gate, and some wore T-shirts reading "My land, I do not want to divide it".

The march commemorates Jerusalem's reunification under Israeli rule after it captured the city's eastern half -- home to the historic Old City and its sites holy to three Abrahamic religions -- in the 1967 war.


Police said they expected the march to end later on Wednesday at its normal terminus, the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.

"The march is not expected to pass through the Temple Mount or the Temple Mount gates," a police statement said.

Police said they were deploying officers throughout the city to "maintain public order, safety and secure property, as well as direct traffic" during the march.

In 2021, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets toward Jerusalem as the march began, triggering a 12-day conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group that also saw Jewish-Arab violence in Israeli cities.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh condemned the "rampage of settlers" and said "our people will not rest until the occupation ends and an independent Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital".

Earlier, the militant group urged Palestinians "to make today, Wednesday, a day of anger".

This year's march comes nearly eight months after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 36,586 people, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.