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(File picture) Dozens Injured as Israeli Forces and Jewish Settlers Storm Al-Aqsa
Occupied Jerusalem: Israeli forces broke into Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday morning, firing stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets at Muslim worshipers as they cleared way for right-wing Jews who were visiting the compound to mark a Jewish fast day, witnesses said.
Dozens of Palestinian worshipers were reportedly hit with rubber-coated bullets and suffered excessive tear gas inhalation, while Israeli police officers were reported to have attacked worshipers with pepper spray, rods and rifle butts, Palestinian (Ma'an) News Agency reported.
The officers entered the compound through the Moroccan Gate, Chain Gate and Hutta Gate and clashed with worshipers, witnesses said, and Israeli soldiers then shut down the compound’s gates with chains.
The Israeli soldiers also reportedly stormed Al-Aqsa mosque itself and fired rubber-coated bullets inside the holy site.
The compound's Palestinian security guards were assaulted and prevented from moving, witnesses said.
Right-wing Jews then began to make their way into the compound in groups via the Moroccan gate.
Israel's minister of agriculture, Uri Ariel, was reportedly among the right-wingers to tour the compound under heavy police escort. Ariel is a member of Naftali Bennett's ultra-right Jewish Home party.
Sunday was marked as Tisha B'Av, an annual Jewish fast day that commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Jewish Temples. The fast day is considered the saddest day in the Jewish calendar.
On Saturday, Jewish settlers severely assaulted a Palestinian child near one of the gates leading to Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
Witnesses at the scene reported that extremist Israeli settlers assaulted the child near al-Ghawanma Gate, prompting a group of Palestinians to intervene and save him. Settlers eventually managed to flee the scene.
This came as Jewish settlers performed Talmudic rituals in front of King Faisal Gate and al-Qattanin Gate, urging large numbers of Palestinian Muslims from the Old City to gather in the area before being dispersed by Israeli police.
The performance of these rituals by Jewish settlers came following calls made by right-wing Jewish organizations, which urged settlers to storm the holy site to mark the ‘destruction of the Temple’.
WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency reports that Jewish settler groups, known as ‘Temple Mount’ organizations, recently urged all Jewish settlers to storm the holy site to mark Tisha B’Av Day, a Jewish holiday commemorating the ‘destruction of the temple’. (QNA)
