Several clashes between Israelis and Palestinians have been reported, but no serious incidents during early Sunday evening.
Last year, the great nationalist march became one of the sparks of an eleven-day war between Israel and armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.
Several of the marchers are said to have chanted anti-Muslim slogans and anti-Palestinian slogans such as “Jerusalem only belongs to us”. During the evening, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called those who uttered anti-Muslim words “a disgrace” as “not worthy of carrying the Israeli flag.”
About 3,000 Israeli police were deployed to guard the provocative march commemorating Israel’s conquest of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six Day War.
Already in the morning, several hours before the march was to be held, unrest broke out when more than 2,600 Jews went to the Temple Mount, and near the al-Aqsa Mosque, among them an ultranationalist politician, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and his followers.
A group of Palestinians barricaded themselves in the morning in the al-Aqsa Mosque, throwing stones and fireworks at pilgrims and Israeli police. The Palestinian Red Crescent states that about 40 Palestinians have been injured in various clashes in Jerusalem’s old city.
Counter-demonstrations were held during the day in several places on the West Bank, including Ramallah and Nablus. According to the Red Crescent, about a hundred people were injured in clashes with the military.
According to the newspaper Haaretz, the Israeli air force patrolled the Gaza Strip at the same time to detect any rockets aimed at Israel.