Agencies-Gaza post
IOF storms Al Aqsa Mosque, attacks worshipers on 4th day in row
Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday assulated Palestinian worhippers during a raid on al-Aqsa Mosque, the fourth in as many days, as right-wing Israelis gear up for an unauthorised march in occupied Jerusalem’s Old City later in the day.
Israeli soldiers shot rubber-coated metal bullets at Palestinian worshippers, locked worshippers in prayer halls, surrounded women in front of the Dome of the Rock, and forcibly removed Palestinians from the mosque’s courtyard to clear the way for Israeli settlers.
Israeli settlers later stormed the mosque’s complex in groups under heavy protection from armed forces and performed Talmudic rituals marking the Jewish Passover.
Wednesday’s raid is the fifth this month. Far-right Israeli activists and settler groups had declared plans to storm al-Aqsa this week in large numbers, starting from Sunday, to mark Passover.
Over 650 settlers stormed al-Aqsa on Tuesday, according to state news agency Wafa, after Israeli forces secured their bath following a violent crackdown on Palestinian worshippers.
545 settlers on Sunday stormed the mosque and 561 more stormed on Monday, according to the Waqf.
Massive tensions are expected to rise later on Wednesday with right-wing Israeli organisations likely to go ahead with a march around the walls of the Old City despite not having received an approval from the police, Haaretz reported.
It said they will not provide security for the Flag March, which is expected to pass the Damascus Gate that leads into to the Muslim Quarter on its way to the Western Wall, and asked the organisers to change the way.
Besides, Israeli forces launched raids and search campaigns in the occupied West Bank, arresting at least six Palestinians from Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem.
