The Israeli occupation authorities rejected, on Tuesday evening, a plan by extremist Israeli settlers to hold a flag march around the Old City of occupied Jerusalem planned to take place this afternoon.

This comes after the national and Islamic factions in Gaza confirmed in a strongly-worded message that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line not to be crossed.

The faction's leadership made it clear that it follows up and scrutinizes every picture that comes out of Al-Aqsa, and if the occupation authorities' aggression against the Palestinian people continues, the resistance will determine the appropriate timing to respond to their crimes.

“It was emphasized at our meeting that we must continue to be prepared and to raise the national readiness,” a Hamas spokesperson said. “Our finger is on the trigger.”

In the context of resisting the Israeli occupation, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades announced that its air defenses responded to the hostile Israeli warplanes at 1:35 a.m. in the skies of the Gaza Strip with surface-to-air missiles.

The Israeli occupation military launched airstrikes in the besieged  Gaza Strip after midnight on Tuesday causing shock and fear in southern the enclave.

Such tensions led to the Israeli occupation forces' May aggression last year on the Gaza Strip which resulted in at least 260 Palestinian martyrs, including 66 children.