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GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli border police arrested 10 right-wing Israelis Thursday evening after they assaulted Palestinian residents of Jerusalem at the Damascus Gate entrance to occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

Witnesses told Ma’an that a group of Israeli extremists physically assaulted Palestinian youths and hurled verbal abuse at them, while repeating slogans calling for the destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Spokesperson for the Israeli police Luba al-Samri said in a statement that police arrested 10 right-wing Israeli activists after they physically assaulted local Palestinians and formed a human chain preventing them from passing through Damascus Gate.

She added that three of the ten arrested were women carrying their infant children.

Tensions in the Old City contributed to the recent escalation of violence after right-wing Israelis made frequent visits to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during a succession of Jewish holidays last fall, as the mosque sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood; extremists call for the destruction of the mosque to make room for a Third Temple.