More zionist settlers storm al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds
Hundreds of settlers have broken into al-Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds under the protection of Israeli forces, in yet another act of desecration of the holy site.
The settlers entered the al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Monday, the first day of the Jewish holidays, which will continue until mid-October, and provocatively performed rituals there.
The act of desecration of the mosque was also accompanied by attacks by Israeli forces on sit-inners inside the mosque.
Palestinian sources also said that the Israeli troops banned a number of worshipers from entering the mosque and physically attacked them.
The attack saw eight young Palestinian men arrested at al-Aqsa and its surrounding area on Monday.
In response, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas called on Palestinians to gather at al-Aqsa to confront Israeli schemes to desecrate the holy site.
Mohammed Hamada, a spokesman for Hamas, said on Monday that the Israeli plans to “change the features of al-Aqsa and divide and take control of it would not succeed,” stressing that the mosque “would remain pure Islamic against the will of the occupation.”
Also on Sunday, scores of Israeli settlers, escorted by military forces, broke into the compound through the Moroccan Gate on Sunday and provocatively performed rituals and Talmudic prayers.
The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Israeli regime enables the Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa despite the fact that an agreement signed between Israel and the Jordanian government in the wake of Israel’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967 prohibits non-Muslim worship at the compound.
