This Wednesday morning, hundreds of settlers stormed the courtyards of the Blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, ahead of the start of the Israeli flag march on the fifty-seventh anniversary of the occupation of what remains of the city of Jerusalem, coinciding with the Israeli occupation forces transforming the city and its old town into military barracks. Local sources confirmed that more than 500 settlers stormed the courtyards of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, under the protection of the Israeli occupation forces, within about an hour, and performed Talmudic rituals and carried out provocative tours.

The storming comes amid settlers' preparations to carry out the settlement media march, this Wednesday evening, while the occupation forces transformed the Holy City into a military barracks, and deployed thousands of their members in preparation for that march. On the other hand, Palestinian calls escalated to travel to Al-Aqsa Mosque, to confront that march and the settlers’ attacks on what the settlers called “Jerusalem Unification Day.” The Temple organizations had called for a Judaization march, today, Wednesday, starting from the Hebron Gate, passing through the Neighborhood of Honor and the Buraq Wall, all the way to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Yesterday, Tuesday, the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, in an interview with the Israeli occupation army radio, threatened to storm the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the provocative settlement “flag march” in the occupied city of Jerusalem, on the occasion of what the Israelis call “Jerusalem Day,” which is the day on which Israel celebrates... Israel with the fall of the eastern part of the occupied city following the setback of 1967.

Regarding the march that will pass through Damascus Gate and perhaps in the Islamic Quarter inside the Old City, Ben Gvir said, “They must be struck in the most important place for them. In all the years they have said this is not appropriate, and this is not the time for that. It is quite the opposite. When you retreat in front of them, you will get October 7th (Operation Al-Aqsa Flood). We will walk through Damascus Gate and ascend to the Temple Mount (Al-Aqsa Mosque), against their will and despite their anger. We must strike them in the place that is most important to them, and we must come and say that the Temple Mount is ours and Jerusalem is ours “If we see ourselves as owners of the place, our enemies will appreciate us.”

The provocative march usually witnesses a charged atmosphere between the settlers and the Palestinians who are trying to confront them and their provocations and attacks. In 2021, Hamas launched rockets towards occupied Jerusalem in conjunction with the march, which led to its dispersal. In 2022, former US Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides went to the then Minister of Internal Security, Omer Barlev, during the period of the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government, and asked him to change the route of the march for fear of igniting the situation, but Barlev rejected his approach and kept the route as it was. The march also passed through Damascus Gate last year, and no exceptional events were recorded.