Jerusalem Day saw tens of thousands of ultra-nationalist Israelis march through the Old City, leading to violent attacks on Palestinians. The week marked a surge in violence, including settler incursions and military actions in Gaza.
Key points
Jerusalem Day marked by ultra-nationalist marches
Violent attacks on Palestinian residents and shops
Itamar Ben-Gvir raised the Israeli flag at Al-Aqsa
Over 2,200 settler incursions reported in one week
On May 14, Jerusalem Day – Israel’s annual celebration of its 1967 capture of occupied East Jerusalem – tens of thousands of ultra-nationalist Israelis marched through the Old City chanting ‘death to Arabs’ and ‘may your villages burn’, while attacking Palestinian shops and residents.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir raised the Israeli flag in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, declaring ‘the Temple Mount is in our hands’ – using the Jewish term for the site – while fellow Jewish Power legislator Yitzhak Kroizer prostrated himself before the Dome of the Rock Mosque and declared on social media, “the time has come to get rid of all the mosques and work to construct the Temple”.
Israeli authorities barred men under 60 and women under 50 from entering Al-Aqsa that morning, clearing it for settler incursions – more than 2,200 in total during the week, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Jerusalem Governorate – in gross violation of the ‘status quo’, which prohibits non-Muslim prayer at the site and vests custodianship in the Jordanian-administered Islamic Waqf.
Videos circulated of settlers attacking residents in the Old City’s Christian Quarter and Silwan, reporters shoved and spat upon, and solidarity activists expelled by police while marchers were allowed through.
The week as a whole amounted to one of the most intense periods of violence and dispossession in recent weeks – driven not only by Jerusalem Day but by a coordinated settler push into Areas A and B of the West Bank that killed a 16-year-old, displaced seven families, as well as military attacks on Gaza and legislative actions that signal an Israeli government determined to impose facts on the ground before elections later this year.
Two Palestinian teenagers killed amid surge of settler violence
The week’s most devastating act of settler violence in the occupied West Bank was on May 13, when dozens of settlers, under military protection, launched a coordinated attack on the villages of Jilijliya, Sinjil and Abwein, north of Ramallah, according to local Palestinian activist networks. During the attack, 16-year-old Youssef Kaabneh was shot in the chest and died – with ambulances blocked from promptly reaching him by Israeli military vehicles, videos shared by local activists showed.
Settlers stole hundreds of sheep and two tractors, with videos showing them being escorted with the stolen livestock through the towns by soldiers, who also arrested three Palestinian residents. Kaabneh’s family had previously been displaced from Wadi al-Siq due to settler violence and had , an area under Palestinian Authority administrative control, believing it would offer protection. The following day, seven families were forcibly displaced from the village outskirts, according to local activist networks.
Q&A
What happened during Jerusalem Day celebrations in 2023?
Tens of thousands of ultra-nationalist Israelis marched through the Old City, chanting violent slogans and attacking Palestinian shops and residents.
Who is Itamar Ben-Gvir and what did he do on Jerusalem Day?
Itamar Ben-Gvir is Israel's National Security Minister who raised the Israeli flag at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, declaring it under Israeli control.
What were the consequences of the settler incursions in the West Bank?
The incursions resulted in the killing of a 16-year-old, the displacement of seven families, and increased violence in the region.
How did Israeli authorities respond to the Jerusalem Day events?
Israeli authorities barred entry to Al-Aqsa for many Palestinians, facilitating settler incursions and allowing violent actions against residents.
The attack was part of a broader surge of violence. On May 16, Israeli forces shot and killed 16-year-old Fahd Awais in al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya, south of Nablus, after opening fire on the vehicle he was in; ambulances were prevented from reaching him, according to the local Red Crescent. In Sinjil, settlers stabbed a man in his fifties, Jaber Shabaneh, in the leg as he foraged for sage, according to field monitor Jonathan Pollack.
Settler attacks were documented across dozens of other communities in recent days. Settlers set fire to a mosque and vehicles in Jibiya, according to Palestinian state news agency WAFA, and burned vehicles in Shaqba, Beit Ummar, Abu Falah, Majdal Bani Fadel and Turmusayya, where a home was set on fire as well, according to local activist networks and WAFA. They attacked farmers in Marah Rabah, destroyed 150 fruit trees in Yasuf, burned olive trees in Burqa, ran over sheep in Khirbet al-Tawil, and blocked the Ashkara road south of Yatta, according to local Palestinian activist networks and Pollack.
Political and legislative developments
The death penalty law for Palestinians convicted of deadly acts of “terrorism” in the West Bank came into effect on Sunday night after the Israeli military’s Central Command chief Avi Bluth signed the necessary military order, according to the Times of Israel. The law has been condemned by United Nations experts and multiple governments as discriminatory and potentially constituting a war crime.
The Israeli coalition submitted a bill to dissolve the Israeli parliament, with elections required by late October. Opposition leader and former Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned Israeli reporters that Netanyahu might launch a military operation for electoral purposes.
Israel’s government approved plans to build an Israeli military complex on the site of UNRWA’s demolished headquarters in Sheikh Jarrah, according to WAFA. Israeli authorities also approved a plan to seize historic Palestinian properties in the Bab al-Silsila neighbourhood adjacent to Al-Aqsa, and issued military orders seizing land in Jenin and Qabatiya, according to WAFA.
Also this week, Fatah held its Eighth General Conference – the first in a decade – re-electing Mahmoud Abbas as leader and electing his son Yasser to the Central Committee, a move critics said prioritised loyalty over democratic merit.
Gaza: Assassinations, strikes, and bread lines
Israel killed Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the head of Hamas’s armed wing, on Nakba Day – May 15 – in a strike that also killed his wife, daughter and four other civilians in a Gaza City residential building. Netanyahu confirmed in a televised appearance that Israel now controls approximately 60 percent of the Strip – beyond the ‘yellow line’ agreed under the October ceasefire.
Strikes continued throughout the week across the Strip. On May 14, two brothers, Tamer and Mohammad al-Mutawaq, were killed in a drone strike on a group of civilians on al-Nazha Street in Jabalia, according to WAFA. On May 16, a Palestinian was killed in a strike near the Abu Hussein school in Jabalia camp. On May 17, three community kitchen workers were killed in a strike on a food distribution site in Deir al-Balah, which Hamas called “a deliberate war crime.” One other person was killed the same day in a strike in Khan Younis, according to WAFA.
While such attacks persist, the humanitarian situation in the Strip remains at crisis levels, as bread lines grow. According to OCHA’s May 15 situation report, only one in every two aid trucks from Egypt was able to offload at Israeli crossings in the first eleven days of May.
The WHO estimated this week that over 43,000 people in Gaza have life-changing injuries – one in four of them children – with no rehabilitation facility fully operational. In Khan Younis, sewage pumping stations have ceased operations due to lubricant oil shortages, flooding residential streets, according to OCHA.
Since the October ceasefire, 877 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and more than 2,600 injured. Since October 7, 2023, the cumulative death toll stands at 72,769.
