Thousands of Israeli extremists have swept through the narrow streets of occupied East Jerusalem's Old City, chanting "Death to Arabs" and "May your villages burn" during the annual so-called "Jerusalem Day" march, while many Palestinian residents remained barricaded indoors.
Every year, tens of thousands of Israeli extremists — many of them teenagers and young adults — parade through occupied East Jerusalem to celebrate Israel's illegal capture and occupation of East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The occupation of East Jerusalem, home to a predominantly Palestinian population, is not recognised by the United Nations.
Over the years, the annual march has repeatedly descended into violence, with groups of young Israeli extremists and criminals targeting Palestinians with racist chants, intimidation and assaults.
This year's march comes against the backdrop of the US-Israeli war on Iran and a ceasefire in Gaza, which sees near-daily violations by Israel.
Mustafa, a Palestinian resident of the Old City's Via Dolorosa, said young extremist Israelis had broken into the courtyard of his home, breaking glass and chanting "Death to Arabs".
"This is a black day... I was inside the home, when around 20 settlers came inside, they broke the doors," he told AFP news agency.
"If you push them, you'll go to prison... you can't do anything."
'Gets worse every year'
Thousands of Israeli extremists marched along the main roads outside the Old City, among them teenagers draped in Israeli flags and parents carrying babies in their arms.
Reuven, 37, who attended with his young son, said: "Christians and Muslims can stay here, but this city, one united city, belongs to the Jews."
Israel's far-right minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, marked the occasion by storming the highly sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third-holiest site.
An AFP correspondent saw Ben Gvir, flanked by bodyguards, marching with the crowds and posing for photos.
Most Palestinian shopkeepers in the Old City had pulled down their metal shutters and deserted the stone alleyways.
A handful of shops remained open under the protection of activists from the Israeli-Palestinian grassroots movement Standing Together, who deployed across the Old City in an effort to shield Palestinian residents and businesses from harassment and attacks by armed Zionists.
Videos on social media showed activists being shoved and surrounded by extremists wearing matching T-shirts emblazoned with Jerusalem-themed slogans.
In one video, the youths hurled plastic chairs at a Palestinian shopkeeper while chanting and swearing.
The shopkeeper appeared to throw one chair back before raising a stick in warning.
"The situation gets worse every year," one Palestinian shopkeeper told AFP, refusing to give his name for fear of reprisals.
Show of solidarity
Crowds chanted "Death to Arabs" and "May your villages burn" under the watch of Israeli police deployed throughout the area, according to an AFP correspondent and online footage.
Some Jewish extremists clapped rhythmically, while others pounded on the metal shutters of closed Palestinian shops.
The crowds included members of a hardline illegal settler movement called Hilltop Youths, linked to near-daily attacks on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"They have no place here," said one of them, declining to give his name.
Illegal settlers also confronted journalists, shoving them and blocking them from filming.
