Israeli nationalists chanted, “Death to Arabs” and “May your village burn,” while marching through the Muslim neighborhoods of Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday.
The march to commemorate Jerusalem Day, which marks Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in 1967, has increasingly become a flashpoint for conflict and has at times devolved into violence.
A small group of marchers stormed a compound in east Jerusalem that belongs to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which the Israeli government has banned from operating within the country, according to the Associated Press.
Both Israelis and Palestinians view Jerusalem as central to their national and religious identities, with control of the territory long serving as one of the biggest obstacles in peace talks. Many Palestinians want to see the creation of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, while Israel regards its capital to be the entirety of Jerusalem.
The march also comes as Israel continues its war against Hamas in Gaza more than 18 months after Hamas carried out the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the current iteration of fighting.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, visited the Temple Mount, one of the holiest places in both Judaism and Islam, prompting a denunciation from Jordan. Recent visits from Israeli leaders to the Temple Mount have also devolved into violence.
“We are marking a holiday for Jerusalem,” Ben-Gvir said at the Temple Mount. “There are truly many Jews flooding the Temple Mount. How nice to see that.”
In a statement condemning the visit, Jordan’s foreign ministry said, “The practices of this extremist minister and his continued incursions into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque … do not negate the fact that East Jerusalem is an occupied city over which Israel has no sovereignty.”
Ben-Gvir has long pushed for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to steer the Israeli government’s policies to the right, including a harder line on the war and the flow of aid into Gaza.
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Hamas is still refusing to release 58 hostages it has held captive for about 18 months. One of the primary holdups in Israel-Hamas negotiations is what will happen once the war ends. Israel maintains it will not allow Hamas to maintain its military capabilities, nor will it allow the group to continue to be in power in Gaza, while the U.S.-designated terrorist group refuses to sign up for its own dismantlement.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff, who leads the U.S. negotiating team, told CNN that there’s a deal on the table that would include a temporary ceasefire in exchange for half of the living and half of the deceased hostages, while they work on longer-term negotiations.
“Israel will agree to a temporary ceasefire/hostage deal that would see half of the living and half of the deceased return and lead to substantive negotiations to find a path to a permanent ceasefire, which I have agreed to preside over,” Witkoff said. “That deal is on the table. Hamas should take it.”
While Hamas wants to maintain power, there have been some protests in Gaza in recent days against the group despite the risk of retaliation.
