Tel Aviv: Within just hours of Israel's former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu handing over his reign to Naftali Bennett government on Monday, fears of another set of conflicts between Israel and Palestinians stirring up over a planned Jewish nationalist march, arise. Far-right wing Israelis are holding a 'flag march' on Tuesday aiming to cross the Damascus Gate and make way through East Jerusalem's Old City, with Hamas warning against the move.
The region is still wounded up after 11-days long violence that escalated in the region last month, which killed more than 280 Palestinians, including 66 children, and 12 people in Israel. Palestinian factions have declared their move to observe a "day of rage" against the event, which was initially planned on May 10 and had avoided routes in and around East Jerusalem. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the event is a provocation of Palestinians and aggression against Jerusalem and other holy sites.
Israeli media reported that the Israeli military has made preparations for a possible escalation in Gaza over the march, with the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem forbidding its employees and their families from entering the Old City on Tuesday.
The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, which includes the Old City, as the capital of the future state they seek to establish in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israel had long demanded that Jerusalem be owned by Israel and that East Jerusalem be made their capital, since 1967.