Intensified zionist aggression in al-Quds prompts call for action, probe

Majid Takht-Ravanchi made the remarks during a Friday meeting of UN ambassadors from Muslim countries, in the presence of UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

The meeting focused on the desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, by Israeli regime forces in recent days.

Delegates from Muslim nations once again highlighted the world body’s key role in achieving a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue.

Takht-Ravanchi demanded urgent action by the international community, especially the UN, in support of the Palestinian nation and an end to occupation and aggression by the Tel Aviv regime.

UN seeks probe into Israel’s excessive use of force at al-Aqsa 

The United Nations has expressed deep concern over the worsening security situation in the occupied Palestinian territories following a spate of deadly Israeli raids on the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

“We are deeply concerned by the escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel over the past month,” Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Friday.

“The use of force by Israeli forces resulting in widespread injuries among worshippers and staff in and around the al-Aqsa Mosque compound must be promptly, impartially, independently, and transparently investigated,” she noted.

Shamdasani asserted that those responsible for any violations should be “held to account”, and that policies and procedures on the use of force be “reviewed with a view to avoid any further violations”.

The UN official said the conduct of Israeli forces on April 15, captured in numerous videos, “raises serious concerns that the use of force was widespread, unnecessary and indiscriminate.”

She emphasized that Israel’s intensified military operations across the occupied West Bank, especially in the city of Jenin, “place Palestinian residents at high risk.”

Shamdasani further said that Israel’s raids in the West Bank raise serious concerns of “excessive use of force and ill-treatment and arbitrary arrests of family members” of Palestinian resistance fighters.

“Some of the killings, including in particular Israeli forces’ shooting at a Palestinian woman in [the town of] Husan on April 10, raise serious concerns of excessive use of force and arbitrary deprivation of life,” she remarked.

Palestinians march in Gaza in solidarity with al-Aqsa 

Thousands of people on Friday rallied in the northern part of the Gaza Strip in a show of solidarity with the al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinians living in the occupied al-Quds and West Bank.

During the march, called by the Hamas resistance movement, the participants waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in support of the al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestinians in the West Bank.

“Palestinians are members of a whole, whether they live in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip,” said Suhail al-Hindi, a member of Hamas’s political bureau. “Our national Palestinian unity pushes us to continue defending our holy sites until we liberate them and keep no place for invaders,”  

“Palestinian resistance fighters are ready to fight on until the full liberation of the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam,” Hindi added, stressing that the sacred site is a red line.

The Hamas official also hailed the bravery of Palestinian protestors in the West Bank, who assembled near the Damascus Gate of the Old City of al-Quds and protected the al-Aqsa Mosque compound against the settlers’ incursion.