Israeli police say Flag March will not go through Damascus Gate

We are minutes away from the beginning of Israel's Flag March, and the Israeli police have decided to slightly reroute the tens of thousands of Israelis set to walk through Jerusalem's Old City.

The march will no longer pass through the Damascus Gate, and instead the flag-waving nationalists will enter the Old City from the Jaffa Gate before heading through to the Western Wall.

That means the procession will no longer pass through the Muslim Quarter's main streets, but the march will be hugely provocative nonetheless.

It's no wonder police are altering the route last minute. Palestinians have gathered at the grand entrance of the Old City, one of the chief routes in from other occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhoods such as Sheikh Jarrah.

Meanwhile, Israel's security cabinet is meeting at 5pm Jerusalem time.

As Israeli journalist Barak Ravid notes in the above tweet, Israel is concerned about the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In recent days Palestinians in Gaza have been protesting in solidarity with Jerusalem, and the Israeli military sent reinforcements to the enclave's boundary earlier.

Ravid adds that Netanyahu personally made the decision to alter the route, not the police chiefs.

"The flags parade was one of the issues raised by U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan in his phone call with his Israeli counterpart on Sunday. Sullivan proposed changing the route but the Israeli side rejected it. Later Netanyahu changed his mind," Ravid says on Twitter.