Rocket fire still option on the table, terror groups say ahead of Jerusalem Day flag march

“All scenarios are open, including firing missiles from multiple fronts,” the terror official said.

By World Israel News Staff

Despite a message from Israel delivered via Egyptian mediators that Jerusalem is not interested in an escalation, terror groups said that violence is still on the table as a response to today’s Flag March in Israel’s capital city.

Speaking to the Lebanon-based, Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper, spokesmen for several Palestinian terror groups repeated their threats that the march passing through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City may see dramatic retaliation, such as rockets fired from Gaza.

“The provocations on the ground, and the attempt to change the status quo, will not pass [quietly],” a senior terrorist told Al-Akhbar, according to a Maariv report.

“Israel’s belief that the resistance in Gaza cannot start a new round is wrong, we are monitoring what is happening in Jerusalem, and we have the right to protect the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the terrorist continued.

“The Palestinians in Jerusalem and [Judea and Samaria] are the mosque’s first line of defense.”

According to Hebrew language media, Iran and its proxy groups are intentionally spreading misinformation on social media that marchers are planning on gathering at the Temple Mount.

Police have stressed that marchers waving Israeli flags will not be permitted to enter the compound.

“If the extremists take steps that threaten the status quo in Jerusalem, all scenarios are open, including firing missiles from multiple fronts,” the terror official added.

Although defense officials have said they believe the likelihood that rockets will be fired is low, following last week’s Operation Shield and Arrow, Iron Dome batteries were deployed and reinforced across Israel’s south.

“The march of the Zionist flags will not pass, and the response will inevitably come,” Hamas spokesman Salah al-Bardawil told Arabic-language media on Wednesday.

“This is a holiday – the policy is to allow complete freedom of movement for Jews throughout Jerusalem. All the threats of terrorism, all the threats of bullying, all the threats of provocations of one kind or another need to be shut down,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement on Thursday morning.

Ben-Gvir also added that generally speaking, Jews should be allowed to “ascend to the Temple Mount, without anyone thinking that it is possible to threaten them or harm them.”

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