22 Palestinians injured as Israeli forces enter Al Aqsa Mosque again

Jerusalem: Atleast 22 Palestinians were injured after Israeli forces entered Al Aqsa Mosque at dawn on Sunday, assaulting and besieging Muslim worshipers inside prayer halls while clearing the way for Israeli settlers to enter the Mosque.

The Palestinian Red Crescent on its official account on Facebook said that, “Our teams have so far dealt with 17 injuries during the confrontations that erupted in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and 5 injuries have been transferred to the hospital.”

Israeli forces fired teargas at worshipers and blocked them indoors. For more than three hours, dozens of people trapped inside have not been able to evacuate people who sustained minor injuries, Wafaa News Agency reported.

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The Israeli forces confiscated the mosque’s loudspeakers after calls for help from inside were broadcast, the Palestinian Information Centre said.

As per media reports, the medics were also prevented from entering the mosque to provide first aid.

According to the Department of Islamic Endowments in Jerusalem, “545 settlers stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque in groups, each group included dozens of settlers, guarded by Israeli police.”

The Israeli raid came 48 hours after another violent attempt by Israeli forces to clear Al Aqsa of Muslim worshippers on Friday. 

More than 150 were injured and at least 450 arrested as Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets, teargas and stun grenades inside the courtyard and prayer halls of the Mosque.

Al Aqsa Mosque

Al Aqsa is located on a plaza at Temple mount, which is known in Islam as the Haram-e-Sharif. The mount is also considered the holiest site in Judaism. The most imposing structure on the compound is the Dome of the Rock, with its golden dome. The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall to the Jews, is one side of the retaining wall of the Al Aqsa compound.

Al Aqsa is the focus of rival claims on Jerusalem. Both Israel and Palestine have declared it their capital. In July 1980, the Israeli parliament approved the Jerusalem law and declared it the capital of the state. The 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence also declared Jerusalem the capital. The Palestinian Authority is currently headquartered in Ramallah.

Shortly after the end of the six-day war in 1967, Israel returned to Jordan the administration and organization of the Al Aqsa compound. While non-Muslims were not allowed to worship at Al Aqsa, Jewish individuals and groups made repeated attempts to enter the Temple mount plaza.

Since the late 1990s, around the time of the first Intifada, these attempts began to occur regularly as Jewish settlers began to claim land in and around East Jerusalem. And this led to frequent clashes and tensions in Al Aqsa.

Israeli settlers storm the mosque’s courtyards under police guard on all days of the week, except for Friday and Saturday, in the morning and evening shifts.

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