Controversial flag march by Israeli settlers arrives at Damascus Gate

A controversial flag march, organised by Israeli far-right settlers has reportedly reached the Damascus Gate, one of occupied East Jerusalem's Old City gates.

According to the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronoth, the march began from HaNevi'im street in West Jerusalem on Tuesday .

It said around 5,000 Israelis are participating in the march – including l awmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right extremist from the Religious Zionist Party.

At one point, several dozen youths, jumping and waving their hands in their air, chanted: “Death to Arabs!” In another anti-Arab chant, they yelled: "May your village burn.”

The daily also reported that four Arab lawmakers in Israel, Ahmad Tibi, Ayman Odeh, Osama Saadi and Sami Abu Shehada, arrived at the Damascus Gate and criticized the decision to allow the march.

Palestinians protests march

Hundreds of Palestinians protested against the parade by Jewish ultranationalists through occupied east Jerusalem.

Israeli forces confronted several Palestinians on Tuesday, scuffling with them or detaining them ahead of the march. Police said that officers arrested 17 people suspected of involvement in violence, some of whom threw rocks and attacked police, and that two police officers needed medical treatment. 

Some of the protesting Palestinians set fire to tyres while others were seen carrying slingshots. Israeli forces also resorted to firing tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.

Medics later said 33 Palestinians were wounded. 

Israel's new Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government said organisers had consulted police on the march's route, which avoided the Old City's Muslim Quarter but still took demonstrators to the explosive Damascus Gate before reaching the Western Wall, a holy site for Jews.

Palestinian activists earlier launched incendiary balloons and kites from besieged Gaza towards areas adjacent to the border in southern Israel.

“The fire was in response to the provocative flag march in East Jerusalem on Tuesday,” a Palestinian activist who identified himself as Abu Houzayfa told Anadolu Agency.

The incendiary balloons or kites contain flammable materials or oil-soaked rags that may ignite fires once landing on crops or dried plants.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Palestinian was injured by Israeli gunfire near the Gaza border fence.

READ MORE: Israel approves contentious Jerusalem rally, weeks after war in Gaza

Controversial flag march

The so-called March of the Flags celebrates the anniversary of Jerusalem's "re-unification" after Israel captured the city's east in the 1967 Six Day War. It is not recognised by most of the international community.

The government said organisers had consulted police on the best route for the march, scheduled to begin at 1430 GMT.

Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned it as a provocation on Twitter.

When the march was originally announced for last week, senior Hamas official Khalil Hayya warned it could spark a return to violence like that of May 10-21.

An original march on May 10 was re-routed at the last minute as Israeli violence in occupied Jerusalem and storming of Al Aqsa Mosque led Hamas to fire rockets towards the holy city.

Protests also flared in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families face possible expulsion after an Israeli court accepted Jewish settler land claims.

Israel bombarded besieged Gaza, killing over 250 residents for11 days before a fragile ceasefire was reached.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem, in a move that has not won international recognition, after capturing and annexing the area in the 1967 Middle East war. It considers all of Jerusalem its capital.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a state they seek to establish in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza.

The fighting came to a halt under an Egyptian-brokered truce on May 21.

READ MORE: Gaza’s reconstruction critical for maintaining ceasefire: Hamas