Panoramic view of the Dome of the Rock, one of the holy places of the Muslim religion, during clashes between the Muslim population and the Israeli police. Photo: Courier International Author: Courier International
Jerusalem, 11 April. Hundreds of Israeli settlers broke into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday. in the middle of the Jewish holiday of Passover.
Witnesses and videos posted on Twitter today by a Palestinian profile showed police escorting groups of settlers into the Al-Aqsa courtyard and through the Mughrabi Gate on the mosque’s western wall on Tuesday, he said, Telesur reported.
The Department of Islamic Endowments in Jerusalem said 1,531 settlers broke into the mosque during the Passover holiday, which will last until April 12.
Previously, Israeli police forces were deployed in courtyards and prevented Palestinians under the age of 50 from entering Al-Aqsa and even courtyards. Dozens of them performed morning prayers on the streets leading to the mosque.
After these events, tensions escalated in the Palestinian territories, causing rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, to which Israel responded with airstrikes.
The Palestinians accuse Israel of systematically Judaizing East Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa is located, and erasing its Arab and Islamic identity.
For Muslims, Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in the world. Jews, for their part, call the area the Temple Mount, saying that there were two ancient Jewish temples here, Telesur explained.
In parallel, two Palestinians were reported to have been shot dead by Israeli forces near Nablus, in the northern West Bank, the enclave and Jewish authorities said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has identified the dead as Abdullah Saud of Tahiti and Mohammed Ghazi Mohammed, who the Tel Aviv army said were killed while planning an alleged attack on the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh.
Ahmad Jibril, head of the Palestinian Red Crescent’s emergency and ambulance department, said medical teams had taken a young Palestinian with a gunshot wound to Rafidia Hospital and blamed Israeli forces for the medical staff’s failure to approach the other wounded.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, troops stationed on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Deir al-Khatab reportedly spotted several Palestinian militants who opened fire from a vehicle as it passed a military post near the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh.
The latest victim was a 15-year-old Palestinian teenager who was shot dead during an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp near Jericho.
The report notes that Israeli forces have killed at least 96 Palestinians this year.
Hours earlier, Israeli occupying forces stormed the northern West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp, detaining five people, according to local and Palestinian security sources.
Local sources also said that armed clashes erupted when Israeli troops entered the city under fire from live ammunition and laid siege to a local house.
In addition, the Special Forces surrounded a house adjacent to the Jenin camp, and explosions were heard in the area.
Violent clashes broke out between the youth and the occupying forces in various areas, during which soldiers fired live bullets and stun and gas bombs, resulting in one young man being wounded in the leg by shrapnel.
Source: Juventud Rebelde