OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)
The Hamas Movement has condemned the Israeli flag march that was held today, Wednesday, in the Old City of Jerusalem, as “aggression against the Palestinian people and their holy sites,” warning the occupation regime of persisting in “its criminal practices against the Aqsa Mosque.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Hamas said that the organization of the right-wing settler march of flags under police protection in the Old City of Jerusalem reflected Israeli insistence on Judaizing the Palestinian holy places and provoking the feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.
Hamas warned the Israeli occupation regime of persisting in its violations against the Palestinian holy sites, especially the Aqsa Mosque, affirming that the resistance is still able to curb the Israeli occupation and its settlers in the West Bank.
Hamas urged the Palestinian masses across the occupied territories to march en masse on Wednesday to the Aqsa Mosque to protect it against Israeli violations.
Scores of police officers were deployed in the holy city as flag-bearing settlers slowly began to gather early on Wednesday near the Aqsa Mosque compound to participate in the parade, which celebrates the Israeli capture and occupation of east Jerusalem in 1967.
Thousands of Jewish settlers guarded by police forces reportedly participated in the march that saw physical and verbal attacks on Palestinian citizens in the Old City’s streets.
The Israeli police also allowed many settlers to carry guns with them during the march.
Israeli police were seen attacking Palestinian shopkeepers in Jerusalem’s Muslim Quarter, while a Palestinian journalist in a flak jacket was attacked by a settler and required medical attention.
Other journalists were also met with a heavy-handed response from Israeli police officers.
Israeli settlers were also heard chanting “No more Al Aqsa, no more children in Gaza” as their crowds moved through the Muslim Quarter.
Earlier in the morning, hundreds of settlers desecrated the Aqsa Mosque and waved Israeli flags near its gates.
