Israeli police deployed in strength in annexed east Jerusalem ahead of an annual march by Jewish nationalists that comes with tensions sky-high nearly eight months into the Gaza offensive, AFP reports.

The so-called Jerusalem Day flag march commemorates the Israeli army’s capture of the city’s eastern sector in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Police set up barriers near the Damascus Gate entrance after announcing plans to deploy more than 3,000 officers during the day, an AFP correspondent reported.

Police typically force the closure of Palestinian businesses near the march route and keep Palestinian residents away.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on Tuesday that he and fellow marchers intended to march to the super-sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, where they are allowed to visit at certain times but not to pray.

“We will march tomorrow through the Damascus Gate and Jews will go onto the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount is the most important place for the state of Israel,” Ben Gvir told army radio.

However police said they expected the march to end at its normal terminus, the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray.

“The march is not expected to pass through the Temple Mount or the Temple Mount gates,” a police statement said.

Police said they were deploying officers throughout the city to “maintain public order, safety and secure property, as well as direct traffic” during the march.